S. Samuel
Rap veteran Redman has revealed he would like to try his hand as a business executive at Def Jam, a label which once held Jay-Z as the company's president.
According to Red, he believes that placing him on the Def Jam throne would benefit the company’s evolution.
“I wish next term I could become vice-president of Def Jam,” Red revealed in an interview. “I would try to conduct business in a business manner, but I would also try to find that niche that Def Jam has been missing to control the whole artists and make all the artists happy. You can’t have unhappy artists over here and happy artists over here. It’s just not working. So I would definitely sit down and try to plan, ‘OK, what can we do? We have our pop artists over here, we have our new artists here, but then we have artists here that been keeping this b*tch going. What do we do for them?’ I’ll try to find that niche.” (Rap-Up)
Last month, Red discussed the legendary label’s inability to maintain its industry dominance.
“Well [now], Def Jam are not leaders. They’re not leaders plain and simple, because it’s changed. They’re not leaders like they used to be. In the ’90’s they were leaders. They were the label that you considered the mechanics of hip-hop; they’re under the car. They were the ones under the car getting greasy, getting dirty, fixing that muffler that drags when everybody loved that sh*t and was following it. Now they’re playing the follower. They’re followers, they’re not building artists no more like they should. And that’s just the game. It’s not they fault. We got into the Internet world and sh*t is moving fast and came so fast and came so quick that labels couldn’t exist, but still they got the money and they’re a company. They’re supposed to adjust. I think they need to get that going. Being a label, being on top.” (XXL Mag)
In 2009, Nas opened up about imagining himself as a Def Jam president.
“Yes and no,” Nas said about being offered the presidency. “I don’t know what’s in store for the future. I’m happy to do whatever makes sense. I would love to add on and help hip-hop, I feel Def Jam is a great label for hip-hop music but I feel they could be doing a lot more for hip-hop, that’s what it’s about. Obviously people they have, have their own agendas and own direction and I respect that too. I think I can add on but I don’t know, at this point and time, I’m just taking it day-by-day, I’m not getting too caught up into all of that.” (PunchBowl)
Jay-Z held the presidency at Def Jam until he stepped down in 2007.
Three years ago, Jay-Z signed an incentive-based contract to take over the storied hip-hop label, and in 2006, he returned from “retirement” to put out a new album, Kingdom Come. The project was met with mixed reviews but was best known for the controversies that surrounded it. Several artists who were signed to Def Jam voiced their displeasure that the president of the company was busy promoting and supporting his own album rather than helping to market works by other acts on the label. (MTV)
Check out a recent Redman interview below:
