S. Samuel
After Island Def Jam CEO L.A. Reid received criticism from Nas and Shyne over his executive practices, SOHH hit up Sheek Louch to clarify his boss' business ethics.
Despite the speculation, Sheek said L.A. Reid has stood behind his movement 100 percent since signing to Def Jam over the summer.
“For one, let me shout [L.A. Reid] out and I’m not even being generic,” Sheek told SOHH. “I gotta shout him out for even giving me the green light to get this deal over here. Mr. L.A. Reid. And even when I was playing my music for the whole staff, he came in and said, ‘Yo man, you got some good music on there. Keep doing your thing.’ Just overall, he co-signed a lot of stuff so hopefully I don’t let nobody down and deliver. I’m definitely going to deliver good music regardless but it is what it is and I definitely appreciate it. He’s gotta approve everything. He’s the one that’s gottay say, ‘OK, that’s the single, let’s go.'” (SOHH)
In an interview with radio host Angela Yee, Def Jam’s Big Sean recently detailed how determined Reid was about hit records.
“Well, my experiences with L.A. Reid, I’ve had tons of meeting with him recently, and even in my meetings he said ‘Man I’m a guy that’s into hits man, pop,’ you know he says that. He’s straight up, I’m into hits I’m into that money. I’m into these f*cking hit songs so no, I don’t think L.A. Reid understands hip-hop in the same way that Nas understands it or Shyne or whoever or Kanye. He understands that muthaf*ckin money, he understands what a hit is, so you gotta respect him on that. He’s responsible for a lot of big acts. But honestly Def Jam does make a lot of mistakes and I’m signed to Def Jam and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me. I’m happy to be on Def Jam.” (Team Yee)
In October, Shyne talked to SOHH about his frustrations with Reid.
“I’m definitely trying to get with Cash Money but the Def Jam thing is a question mark right now,” Shyne told SOHH. “I’ve been fixing to get up out of there for a while now because [Island Def Jam CEO] L.A. Reid don’t care about hip-hop. The people up there, they don’t know what they’re doing. When you don’t have a strong leader, where you gonna go? … They don’t care about hip-hop music. You give them a hip-hop record with an R&B singer, you “might” have a chance. They don’t care. You got The Roots, Ghostface, Nas, probably the best hip-hop roster you could imagine and they do nothing. L.A. Reid doesn’t want nothing to do with rappers — it’s nothing personal, I don’t have nothing personal with dude but he makes it known he doesn’t care about hip-hop. So I’m really interested in seeing who’s gonna replace him. Because I know he’s been replaced — so I wanna find out who’s gonna take his spot before I decide what I’m gonna do with Def Jam…The music that we make is responsible for pop, R&B, everything that’s jumping right now…” (SOHH)
Outside of Reid, Sheek Louch is currently set to drop his Def Jam debut, Donnie G, on December 14th.
1. Rhyme Animal (Intro) 2. Get It Poppin 3. Club Jam Packed feat. DJ Webstar 4. Out Of The Ghetto feat. Kobe 5. Make Some Noise feat. Fabolous 6. Blood & Tears feat. Casely 7. Nite Falls 8. Party After 2 feat. Jeremih 9. Touch The Sky feat. Ryan Leslie & Adrienne Bailon 10. Ol’ Skool feat. Bun B 11. Picture Phone Foreplay feat. Kevin “KC” Cossom 12. Dinner Guest feat. Jadakiss, Bully & Styles P. 13. Ready4War (Donnie G)
Check out a recent Sheek Louch interview below:
