S. Samuel
Roc Nation star Melanie Fiona recently spoke on her days at the growing management company and just how much of an impact Jay Z has on her career.
In Fiona’s opinion, Young Hov is a top adviser and showcases brilliance with her.
“It was pretty crazy! I was actually one of their first signees. When they approached me about management, they set up a meeting. I had no idea that Jay Z would actually be in the meeting, so it was nerve racking and exciting all at the same. Having his support as a manager and as an artist is pretty cool, in business and as far a street credibility goes! He’s brilliant and having him as a resource for advice is definitely helpful along the creative path. Soon after I signed to them, Jay picked me as the face of the Rocawear Women’s line. They put a massive billboard of me from the campaign right in the middle of Times Square! Crazy!” (The Coveteur)
Last year, fellow singer and Roc Nation member Rita Ora discussed what she had learned from Jay since joining the team.
“Ever since being plucked from a night club in London in 2009 by Roc Nation, Rita Ora has been in the studio crafting her untitled debut album, which has been a learning experience in itself. “When I signed to Roc Nation, I was 18. At 18, I was basically singing anything [and] talking about something that I didn’t really know. When we recorded a few songs… the good thing about having a musician who is also your boss, is [having him] say, ‘Are you happy with it?’ Rita Ora said of Jay-Z and recording,”I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ He taught me about patience and they [Roc Nation] taught me how to find myself. i came back one day, and I swear, and I was like, ‘You know what? We need to do something else. And we flipped it.” Three years later, her full-length opus, featuring Ester Dean, The-Dream, Tinie Tempah, Drake and more, “is nearly done,” and Rita Ora is charming the media all the while marking her name in red on the Billboard charts. (Billboard)
Prior to blowing up, Maybach Music Group’s Wale previously spoke on Roc Nation being the home to him, Melanie and J. Cole.
“Roc Nation is a family so myself, Melanie Fiona, J. Cole — it’s a lot of these new young faces that you’ll probably hear a lot more about in 2010 but myself, J.Cole & Melanie Fiona are carrying the flag as far as Roc Nation goes,” Wale explained in an interview. “Some of us signed management [deals], some of us signed label [deals] through Columbia I believe. So it’s a family, we talk all the time — it’s a family environment. This whole tour has been a family environment…I make what some people believe to be very good music — and you can never let the hate stop you. I make good music and I make music for the soul.” (“On The Air Idiots”)
Back in 2009, Jay dished out the details of his Roc Nation company’s set-up.
“Sony is Roc Nation,” Jay said in an interview. “That’s where Roc Nation’s going through. [With Atlantic,] that’s pretty much just for this specific album. Roc Nation — we’re experts in marketing and making records. But we do distribution deals. On this one, we’re working directly with Atlantic staff, which is Julie [Greenwald], Lyor [Cohen], Kevin [Liles] and [Mike] Kyser. For the rest of the Roc Nation artists, we did a distribution deal with Sony…You have to figure, this is like four years ago [when I approached Def Jam with the same deal idea] and to them it was just like, ‘Are you crazy? No! Make a song!’ To me it was like, I’ve sold companies for huge amounts of money. I’m an entrepreneur — that’s what I’ve been all my life. I can’t just sit here and make records and not do anything else. Why wouldn’t you want to do this with me? I felt under-utilized.” (Billboard)
