Artists Leaving Their Labels And Joining Roc Nation For Distribution Deals, Management + MORE
In hip-hop, it's all about the company you keep. From managers to collaborations to cosigns, a rapper's success in the game is vastly dictated by who they align themselves with. Since launching in 2008, Jay Z's Roc Nation management company has built up one hell of a rap roster. Spearheaded by HOV himself, the one-stop shop houses a record label, a talent agency, a touring and concert production company and music publishing company all within its four U.S. offices.
Roc Nation focuses on fostering the careers of both new acts and established vets.
Lil Uzi Vert has been entangled in a battle with his record label Generation Now that has gained traction online.
A source close to the situation has confirmed to that Lil Uzi Vert is now only being managed by Roc Nation.
In several posts that Uzi recently uploaded to his Instagram Stories, the rapper continued his “Free Uzi” campaign to release his next album Eternal Atake. In one of his Stories, he tagged Roc Nation during a preview of a new verse, thanking JAY-Z’s label before adding another “Free Uzi” for good measure.
Being the business man that he is, Jay has obviously put his sights on more than just the music world. In April of 2013, Roc Nation ventured into the sports world, founding Roc Nation Sports. As of 2017, Roc Nation represents some of the biggest names in the sports world as well. Names like Kevin Durant, Skyler Diggins, Victor Cruz, Geno Smith and more have aligned themselves with Roc Nation Sports.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation continues making an impact outside the world of music.
After advocating for Meek Mill and 21 Savage's freedom, the label's social justice department Team ROC confirmed on Tuesday (March 5) that they appointed lawyer Alex Spiro to take on the case of sixth grader Jabari Talbot, who was arrested after he refused to stand up for the pledge of allegiance in class. That same day, Roc reps confirmed that the case had, in fact, been dropped.
“Jabari is a courageous and intelligent young man who deserves all the credit for standing up for his beliefs,” Spiro said in a statement. “He should’ve never been arrested or entangled in this situation—his freedom of speech rights were clearly protected under the 1st Amendment.”
Let's be honest, if you were a rapper in this day and age and you were offered a Roc Nation deal, how could you not trust HOV, one of the greatest moguls in this game?
So for a moment let's pretend like you're a young artist and your buzz is atmospheric. Every label on the planet, from Def Jam to Interscope to Roc Nation is after you, and you're on cloud nine after your meeting with Jay Z, a meeting during which he threw down a record contract in front of you. Should you sign it? Your emotions are understandably running high, you can feel your heart beating in your ears but take a deep breath, think rationally. This is your future you're entrusting this company with. Will they really be any better at turning you into a big star than any of the other labels similarly courting you?
The only logical thing to do would be to go through Roc Nation's entire artist roster and evaluate how much the label's helped or hurt their career. That's what I would do if I was in that position, so that's what I did.