"RAWKUS 50" Certified 2007 (The Music Industries first major push towards Digital only Music)
On November 28th 2007, My sophomore album as Dutchmassive, titled "Crush Your System" was released on Rawkus Records with what would be, The first major Digital Music Campaign in the industry. Rawkus took 50 artists and dropped 50 albums at once … Digitally.... It didn't pan out.
Throughout this artifact, I've included links to multiple articles, documentaries, from notable press that provide extensive context into how one of the most prestigious and culturally impactful record labels began and ended with it's choice to launch a Digital Only music campaign.
Dutchmassive (aka Dutchyyy) -"Crush Your System"
feat.
Jamall Bufford aka Buff1, Main, Median, NapsNDreds, Surreal, Von Pea, Will Widdoss, Fresh Daily, Muneshine, Mishoo The Drumkit
Production by:
14Kt, , Samiyam Dutchy, Funkghost, Illmind, Mo0, Dela, Comfort Fit, , Rik Marvel, Cream of Beats, , Sebmaestria, Slopfunkdust, Jeremy Ian Thomas, Sweatson Klank aka Take, Remot, Mudd, Unown, Tzarizm
🔗Crush Your System / Bandcamp🔗
🔗Crush Your System / Catalog Works🔗
🔗Rawkus Network Launches The Eagerly Anticipated Rawkus 50🔗
Published November 26, 2007 via DJbooth
New York, NY — Rawkus, the brand synonymous with groundbreaking hip-hop returns to their roots in artist development.
The Rawkus Network
home to blog favorites and taste-makers such as RealtalkNY.net, SmokingSection.net, TheRapUp.net, and Fatlacemagazine.com, announces the Nov. 27th all digital launch of The Rawkus 50, a who’s who of the hottest underground artists in Hip Hop today.
Chosen from hundreds of submissions, all Rawkus 50 artists’ profiles can be viewed on my.rawkus.com, a community platform that both blogs and artists share. A total of 650 exclusive tracks, representing 50 albums, will be available for digital download at I-Tunes and other relevant digital retailers worldwide. Each artist also has the option to independently release the music in physical CD form. To select the top 50 artists from a huge amount of submissions, Rawkus drafted veteran underground hip hop producer Slopfunkdust as Rawkus 50 A&R Director. All artists receive the marketing and promotion of Rawkus founders Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, who conceived of the Rawkus 50 as a countermeasure to falling CD sales and a general decline in artist development at music labels.
The Rawkus 50 member diversity, cumulative artistic strengths and touring capacity are evident; however, the Rawkus Network will provide coverage throughout its community of blogs with additional on-line promotion via its social network, worldwide digital distribution using IODA Distribution Alliance, print ads and a National series of Rawkus 50 events.
🔗Rawus Records’ Rise & Fall Is Detailed In A New Video🔗
Published August 28, 2022 By Bandini via ambrosiaforheads
It was 15 years ago this fall that Rawkus Records stopped releasing albums. The “Rawkus 50” campaign allowed a new generation of MCs and producers to digitally release product with the same label that introduced many Hip-Hop Heads to names like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Company Flow, High & Mighty, Thirstin Howl The 3rd, and more. That same imprint would offer new pathways for veteran careers like Pharoahe Monch, Kool G Rap, Big L, R.A. The Rugged Man, and DJ Spinna, to name a few.
As online video maker “Def Goldbloom” points out, Rawkus has now been gone longer than the label ever existed. He has made an approximately 11-minute visual that examines the life-cycle of Rawkus through its releases and some lesser-publicized information.
📽️🔗The Rise and Fall of Rawkus Records (Documentary)🔗
The video highlights the impact of Nervous Records. That New York City label put out crucial releases by Black Moon, Smif-n-Wessun (who would work closely with Rawkus in time as Cocoa Brovaz), and Mad Lion, became an inspiration to the imprint launched by school-mates Jarret Myer, Brian Brater, and James Murdoch. Notably, some of Rawkus’ early 12″ vinyl releases went beyond Hip-Hop, dabbling in Rock, Drum & Bass, and more.
By 1997, the label made crucial inroads with Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus. That release built upon years of groundwork from El-P, Mr. Len, and Bigg Jus. Later that year, the label strategically picked Black Moon’s DJ Evil Dee to mix the first Soundbombing, while decade-long veterans Kool Keith and De La Soul hosted the first Lyricist Lounge compilation, a 1998 double-disc. Later, in 1998, Mos Def & Talib Kweli’s Black Star union earned tremendous critical and commercial acclaim. That release reportedly allowed Rawkus to secure a distribution deal with the same Priority Records that had been instrumental to successes of N.W.A., Mack 10, and Master P. Over the next several years, Rawkus continued to rise—earning a gold plaque for Mos Def’s Black On Both Sides and taking a major social stand with Hip Hop For Respect. That project involved 41 MCs to honor the 41 NYPD bullets that wrongfully struck and killed Amadou Diallo in early 1999. Rawkus also released a posthumous Big L album that also earned a plaque, as well as the critically-acclaimed Train Of Thought by Reflection Eternal.
Thirstin Howl The 3rd Gives Polo & Ralph Lauren A New Kind Of Boost
With an increased profile, Rawkus entered a joint venture with MCA Records. Veteran acts like Q-Tip, Brand Nubian, D.I.T.C., and Styles P continued to work with the imprint on songs and compilations. However, the label—then home to J Dilla, Blackalicous, The Roots, and Common, would close and merge into Geffen/Interscope. There, Rawkus suffered—leading albums by Kool G Rap and Mad Skillz to delay or shelf.
The doc also looks to where and how funds were spent in those later years, using a quote from Evil Dee. After securing a deal with Sony Red distro, Rawkus attempted to plant a flag the emerging digital space. They dropped albums by Marco Polo, Kidz In The Hall, and Procussions (whose Stro Elliot has since joined The Roots). The Rawkus 50, a user-facing contest, invoked submissions from MCs like Silent Knight and Kaze to Mr. Metaphor and Finale, however—the luster of the label was lost in the changing technologies and guards. It was an unceremonious end to an incredible 10-plus-year-run.
However, through its artists, Rawkus’ impact remains everlasting.
Published September 6th, 2013 by Dee Lockett (Pigeons & Planes) via COMPLEX
While Bad Boy, Death Row, and Def Jam stole the shine of '90s hip-hop, one independent rap label quietly and triumphantly became the mecca for New York City's underground emcees. Founded in 1996, Rawkus Records was the brainchild of Brown University alumni Brian Brater and Jarret Myer who enlisted Rupert Murdoch's son James to front the cash via News Corp. With industry connections, know-how, and a high profile investment to offer, Rawkus attracted the likes of hip-hop's most respected lyricists Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Company Flow, and Pharoahe Monch. In the label's golden era, it birthed Blackstar, Mos Def's iconic Black On Both Sides and Reflection Eternal. But a missed opportunity in signing Kanye West, a failed digital relaunch dubbed "The Rawkus 50," and a tense relationship with Company Flow's El-P ultimately led to the label's demise in the early 2000's and inspired El-P to create Definitive Jux—a move which all but laid Rawkus to rest. In memory of what Rawkus Records accomplished in its short-lived history, we reminisce with photos that celebrate the label's glory days.
Rawkus Founders
Long before James Murdoch inherited the media mogul persona of his father, he was a tattooed Harvard dropout living in New York City with an interest in conscious rap. Sensing the potential in having a stake in a record label, he partnered with friends Jarret Myer (pictured above) and Brian Brater (pictured below) who started Rawkus Records as a grassroots effort. Murdoch soon invested seed money in the company's future to get the label on its feet. The rest is history.
Company Flow
Signed personally by Myer and Brater, Company Flow—a Brooklyn rap group comprised of El-P, Big Juss, and Mr Len—became the first artists to join Rawkus Records in 1996. At the time of their signing, the group had already released its debut album Funcrusher on Official Recordings, but the trio quickly headed back into the studio, recorded 12 new songs, and re-released their debut album as Funcrusher Plus in 1997 for Rawkus' first offering to East Coast hip-hop.
Eminem
Though many fans view The Slim Shady LP as Eminem's big league debut, he'd been rapping professionally for nearly three years prior to dropping that album. Along the way, this young, brash, white rapper from Detroit caught the eye of Jarret Myer and Brian Brater who decided to bring him in to record a verse for a couple other white rappers/producers signed to Rawkus, High & Mighty. They never ended up signing him, but that verse ended up on a song called "The Last Hit" off the duo's 1999 debut album Home Field Advantage. Though his sophomore album had dropped months earlier, for many fans of underground rap, that verse was their first introduction to the Slim Shady character. He later appeared on "Any Man" for the label's Soundbombing 2 mixtape, a feature Eminem references in "Stan."
"Soundbombing"
Getting in early on the mixtape game, for its second release Rawkus put together a 17-track compilation album called Soundbombing. Released in 1997, it featured labelmates Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, Company Flow, Sir Menelik, and Shabaam Sahdeeq. In particular, it launched the careers of Mos and Talib with standout tracks like "Universal Magnetic" and "Fortified Live." The label went on to release a sequel to the mixtape in 1999 and launched the Lyricist Lounge mixtape series shortly after.
Mos Def
A no-brainer signing based off the work he previously did with De La Soul, Rawkus scooped up Mos Def quickly after the label was founded. Riding off the coattails of his well-received album with Talib Kweli, Mos dropped his own debut solo album Black on Both Side in 1999 to critical acclaim. The album went on to go platinum, making it the most commercially succesfull album in Rawkus' catalog and the only solo effort from Mos for the label before he left for Interscope/Geffen.
Hi-Tek
Without Hi-Tek, Black Star's famed debut Talib Kweli & Mos Def Are Black Star may not ever have seen the light of day. While Talib and Mos penned the album's masterful lyrics, Hi-Tek produced more than half the album—including the career-defining tracks "Respiration" and "Defintion." Capitalizing on his ear for beats, Rawkus Records signed Hi-Tek early on and enlisted him to produce for several other Rawkus artists, including Talib, as well as for the label's compiltation albums Soundbombing and Soundbombing 2. He later went on to release his own rap album on Rawkus Hi-Teknology in 2001.
The High & Mighty
Hailing from Philly, rapper/DJ duo Mr. Eon and DJ Mighty Mi joined Rawkus in 1998 and quickly put out their debut LP Home Field Advantage. Based on guest spots from label-mates Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch and production from The Alchemist, it was bound to catch underground attention. But a feature from Eminem saw a spike in the album's hype. At the time, Em was fairly new to the game, and people were still trying to figure out his Slim Shady alter-ego which drew more mainstream fans to give the album a spin for that reason alone.
"Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1"
With the underground success of Soundbombing under the label's belt, Rawkus added another mixtape series to the mix called the Lyricist Lounge, a reference to the New York showcase. This time, the double-disc album released in 1998 featured an impressive collection of established rappers like Q-Tip, Jurrasic 5, KRS-One, De La Soul, Black Thought, Rah Digga, and Zack de la Rocha alongside other Rawkus rappers and producers. It also featured up-and-coming rapper Common.
Pharoahe Monch
After recording three albums under the moniker Organized Konfusion with Prince Poetry, Pharoahe Monch signed to Rawkus as a solo artist in 1997. Following standout appearances on Soundbombing 2, he dropped his debut solo album Internal Affairs in 1999 to critical acclaim. He also received commercial support from the self-produced "Simon Says," which was featured in the 2000 film Charlie's Angels.
"Soundbombing 2"
For the second installment of the Soundbombing series released in 1999, Rawkus expanded beyond artists signed to the label and reached out to rising rappers like Eminem, Common, Bahamadia, Cocoa Brovaz, and Skillz. Not only is the album notable for its early notice of Eminem and Common, it also charted on the Billboard 200 at No. 30 due to consistent radio play.
Reflection Eternal
Working with producer Hi-Tek on Talib Kweli & Mos Def Are Black Star and on an earlier collaboration with Cincinnati rap group MOOD undoubtedly inspired Talib to jump in the studio with Hi-Tek again for their second album as a duo. Calling themselves Reflection Eternal, Hi-Tek and Talib released Train of Thought in 2000. It's notabe for featuring Dave Chapelle, Mos Def, Les Nubians, and De La Soul. The two subsequently released a mixtape and sophomore album not affiliated with Rawkus.
Kool G Rap
Due to label politics forcing Kool G Rap to release his third album The Giancana Story on Koch records, he never did get a solo record out on Rawkus. But Kool G Rap made his mark on the label elsewhere, appearing on several Rawkus mixtapes and compilation albums and collaborating with other labelmates on their solo projects, notably on Big L's last album.
DJ Spinna
Though mainly an underground hip-hop label, Jarret Myer and Brian Brater began Rawkus with early influences of drum and bass which was evident in their decision to sign DJ Spinna. He released his solo album, Heavy Beats Volume 1, on Rawkus in 1999 and has remained one of the genre's most prolific underground DJs. His close friendship with labelmate Shabaam Sahdeeq also inspired the hip-hop group Polyrhythm Addicts along with Mr Complex and Tiye Phoenix. The group's two albums featured another fellow Rawkus labelmate Pharoahe Monch, though Polyrhythm Addicts were never directly affiliated with Rawkus Records.
Sir Menelik
Like labemate Shabaam Sahdeeq, Sir Menelik was one of the more lowkey members of Rawkus having never released a solo album for the label. He was, however, featured on the Soundbombing mixtape on the songs "Nightwork" and "So Intelligent" and again on the mixtape's sequel.
Big L
Prior to being tragically gunned down in early 1999, Big L managed to record one last album The Big Picture, which was released posthumously by Rawkus Records in 2000. Though he had formed his own independent label Flamboyant Entertainment and was in talks to sign with Roc-A-Fella Records just days before his death, Big L's legacy remains with Rawkus. In Big L's absence, the album was put together by a collective of his manager Rich King, Rawkus Records, guest producers, and rappers featured on the album.
Kanye West
The rumor that Kanye West was initially interested in signing to Rawkus Records—while courted heavily by Roc-A-Fella records—was only recently confirmed by Talib. In an interview with Vlad TV, the rapper claimed Kanye was so curious about joining the label as both a rapper and a producer that he would regularly hang out in the Rawkus offices and pass on beats to their artists. But, as Talib explains, Myer and Brater "didn't see his vision as an artist," and preferred he remain solely a producer—feedback Kanye received constantly at the time. We all know what happened next.
"Hip Hop for Respect"
The '90s ended in gruesome fashion with the racially motivated murder of Amadou Diallo who was shot 41 times by the NYPD. In response to the extreme police brutality, Mos Def and Talib took to the studio once again as a duo to create Hip Hop For Respect EP. But unlike Talib Kweli & Mos Def Are Black Star, the two didn't keep this project to themselves. Instead, they enlisted 41 rappers—labelmates, friends, and rappers with a message who could add to the conversation—to represent each bullet that went through Diallo. The EP was released in 2000 to critical and commercial success.
🔗Still Soundbombing – The Rawkus 50🔗
Published November 26, 2007 by Ryan Proctor via oldtothenew
Back in the mid-to-late 90s Hip-Hop was becoming increasingly more and more divided, with the creative line being drawn between mainstream major label acts such as DMX, The Lox and Cam’ron, and their many underground counterparts.
Of course, as is the case today, good music could be found on both sides of the commercial / underground divide, but a decade ago you were likely to get hit upside the head with a backpack if you even thought about placing Jay-Z above Aceyalone in the lyricist stakes.
Alongside other labels such as Fondle Em, GuessWhyld and Project Blowed, NYC’s Rawkus imprint was at the forefront of the subterranean rap movement, helping to introduce the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, L-Fudge and Company Flow to the world.
Subsequent business dealings with Geffen would see the Rawkus brand swallowed up by the corporate music machine in the new millenium, but the label has recently been reborn, with their Rawkus 50 campaign announcing a bold return (shoutout to my online homie Slopfunkdust).
November 27th sees the offical online launch of this ambitious project. Read what Rawkus themselves had to say about the venture below and then check out a selection of videos from Hip-Hop’s new generation of underground talent.
“Chosen from hundreds of submissions, all Rawkus 50 artists’ profiles can be viewed on my.rawkus.com, a community platform that both blogs and artists share. A total of 650 exclusive tracks, representing 50 albums, will be available for digital download at I-Tunes and other relevant digital retailers worldwide. Each artist also has the option to independently release the music in physical CD form. To select the top 50 artists from a huge amount of submissions, Rawkus drafted veteran underground hip hop producer Slopfunkdust as Rawkus 50 A&R Director. All artists receive the marketing and promotion of Rawkus founders Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, who conceived of the Rawkus 50 as a countermeasure to falling CD sales and a general decline in artist development at music labels. “
🔗How Rawkus' 'Soundbombing II' Launched a New Era of Independent Rap🔗
Publish May 17th, 2019 by Dart Adams via Okay Player
On May 18th, 1999, Rawkus Records released Soundbombing II, the landmark album that paved the way for one of the greatest independent rap runs ever.
In the summer of 1999, the rap industry was moving into previously unexplored territory. Twenty years after the very first rap 12-inch was released, the genre had finally become the top-selling in terms of sales. Rap was the most popular kind of music amongst the youth and the most sought after demographic from brands and corporations looking to sell products to both Generation X and burgeoning Millennials. There was a time when rap music couldn’t be played on Black radio while the sun was still up. Rap was once relegated to the very back of the record store, partially because it wasn’t regarded as real music and partially to discourage shoplifters (since they would essentially have to sprint through the entire store in order to escape with their ill-gotten vinyl, cassette tape, or CD long box.)
All of this could be said for mainstream Rap music but underground/indie Rap in 1999 was perceived much like a red-headed stepchild. It was dismissed as “backpack Rap” where hundreds of lyrical-spiritual-miracle loving “heads” who lived for obscure references, punchlines, metaphors, similes, internal rhyme schemes, multi-syllable rhyme schemes, speed, and remarkable breath control had nerdgasms over vinyl singles that were insanely hard to locate. They existed only to nod their heads furiously to songs with 30 bar verses — no hooks — and thumb their noses at everything on the radio. That was the general consensus. "Backpacker” was often used as a slur/derogatory term in a world where Swizz Beatz and Mannie Fresh ruled the radio and the charts.
Rawkus was the leading brand in underground rap in 1999. Whereas other indie Rap labels made their marks selling 12-inch vinyl singles and CD’s through Web-based mail-order marketplaces such as Sandbox Automatic, Underground Hip-Hop, and Hip-Hop Site, and physical storefronts like Fat Beats. Rawkus did all that and sold a significant amount of CDs. Rawkus had the advantage of being well funded, this meant they had quite a promotional budget. They could secure print ads in all the major and independent music publications. They could afford TV spots, ad space on the radio, and they could shoot videos for their big singles which landed in the rotation on BET, MTV, and MTV2.
On top of it all, they had Priority/EMI doing their distribution. This allowed Rawkus to compete with major labels in terms of reach. This was something other leading underground Rap labels like Fondle ‘Em, Dolo, Stones Throw, Solesides, Hydra, Rhymesayers, and Conception couldn’t do. Rawkus had been building up to this point for years. Back in 1997, they released two seminal projects: Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus and the first edition of their compilation series Soundbombing. In 1998, Rawkus further established themselves by putting out the double CD compilation Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1 and the highly anticipated project Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. They had made such headway that Funkmaster Flex was even playing Rawkus songs on Hot 97. After making several key signings, Rawkus was set to drop multiple projects in 1999, using Soundbombing II as the foundation of their releases going forward.
Between their flagship artists who released popular vinyl singles — like Sir Menelik, Shabaam Sahdeeq, RA The Rugged Man, and Talib Kweli & Mos Def — and new signees, like the Cocoa Brovaz (Smif N’ Wessun), Da Beatminerz, and The High & Mighty, Rawkus was ready to make a major push that year. The label co-owners Brian Brater and Jarret Myer had funding from James Murdoch (the son of billionaire Rupert Murdoch). They assembled a team that included lead A&R Black Shawn; associate A&Rs Mike Heron and Sally Morita; radio promotions guy Ben Willis; and Kevin Shand, who did distribution and sales. Gang Starr Foundation’s Headqcourterz headed up the Rawkus street team.
This outfit was behind one of the most successful stretches an underground Rap label ever achieved.
In addition to having full-page ads in music publications, the video for Common and Sadat X’s “1-9-9-9” was in rotation on BET and MTV. Rawkus went a step further by distributing a promotional snippet mixtape by J-Rocc & DJ Babu of the World Famous Beat Junkies. Needless to say, Rawkus’ aggressive approach yielded great returns — far beyond what most underground Rap labels experienced.
On May 18th, 1999 Soundbombing II hit store shelves. The album was powered by the popularity of “1-9-9-9,” Eminem’s “Any Man,” The High & Mighty’s “B-Boy Document 99,” and Company Flow’s “Patriotism” among other Rawkus songs which were prominently featured on And1 Mixtape Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by DJ Set Free and Nex Millen. There was even a special Rawkus Soundbombing II episode of BET’s Rap City that aired around the time of the compilations’ release. Due to all of these factors, the album did even better than anyone could’ve wildly anticipated out of the gate.
In the June 5th edition of Billboard, Soundbombing II not only debuted at #6 on the Top R&B Albums chart and it entered the Billboard 200 at #30. There were multiple Rawkus releases in the Top 10 Rap Singles and there was going to be a Soundbombing II series of double-sided vinyl released for their rabid fanbase on five different 12-inches. At the time Rawkus was moving anywhere around 50K units per vinyl drop or occasionally even upwards. By locking down the crowd on Stretch & Bobbito’s WKCR, Jay Smooth’s Underground Railroad show on WBAI, DJ Riz and DJ Eclipse on Halftime Radio Show — in addition to Sway, King Tech, and DJ Revolution’s The Wake Up Show — they had already secured a faithful core audience who frequented Fat Beats or copped from online marketplaces. But they had made inroads to the wider mainstream Rap audience and had converted some of them to the cause of the Resistance.
Why was Soundbombing II so crucial? Its overwhelming success paved the way for a landmark 1999 for Rawkus. In June, they released Company Flow’s Little Johnny From The Hospitul and DJ Spinna’s Heavy Beats Vol. 1 which was followed up by The High & Mighty’s Home Field Advantage in August. These albums set the stage for Rawkus to drop Mos Def’s Black On Both Sides and Pharoahe Monch’s Internal Affairs in consecutive weeks in October. These albums helped to raise Rawkus’ profile to the point MTV greenlit a sketch comedy show based on The Lyricist Lounge Show which debuted in early 2000.
Rawkus had become the leading brand carrying the flag for underground Rap as we were deeply entrenched in the Jiggy Era.
Another reason why Rawkus’ accomplishments were so timely is because the entire landscape of the music industry was changing. By May, it was reported that “mp3” was the most searched term on the Internet — ahead of “sex." On May 19th, 1999 it was announced in major business periodicals that MTV was going to purchase The Box meaning that it would join MTV, MTV2, VH1, and BET as Viacom owned music video networks that were portals for urban music. The music industry was scrambling to find ways to regulate music and curb unauthorized downloads of ripped mp3 via sites like MP3.com, MusicMatch and Goodnoise. The industry was trying to create copy-protected CDs or anti-copying protocols for digital music downloads.
Of course, all of this was made moot on June 1st, 1999 when Northeastern University student Shawn Fanning released the beta version of Napster which spread from Northeastern to Emerson College, Boston University, Berklee College Of Music, MIT, Harvard, Boston College and over 50 institutions of higher learning with high-speed Internet in the Metro Boston Area. From there, Napster spread up and down the Eastern Seaboard then nationwide. Nothing would be the same after Summer 1999 but with the perfectly timed release of Soundbombing II, Rawkus was able to establish itself as a powerhouse right before the inception of the brave new world of P2P sites.
🔗Slopfunkdust On Becoming A Producer, Rawkus, Being In Dr. Dre Studio, and More🔗