Flipmode Records
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| Flipmode Records | |
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| Parent company | Universal Music Group |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | Busta Rhymes |
| Distributing label | Aftermath Entertainment Interscope Records (USA) Polydor Records (Outside the US) |
| Genre | Hip Hop |
| Country of origin | USA |
Flipmode Records is a record label founded in 1994 by hiphop artist Busta Rhymes that operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Most recently, the label jointly released Busta Rhymes's The Big Bang with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.
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[edit] Company history
[edit] Elektra Years (1996-2000)
Soon after the Elektra Records deal was done, Busta was granted his own label which was to serve as an imprint to the label. At the time his friend, Rah Digga, was signing to Elektra alnog with another friend of his Rampage. Elektra would allow Busta to sign these acts to his Flipmode Records. Under the terms of the deal, Busta was responsible for putting their albums together and they would fund, promote and distribute the releases from the label. The first release from Flipmode was Busta Rhymes's The Coming, which came in 1996, during the time that the east coast was beginning to gain popularity again after the rise of the west coast. This album went platiunm and catopulted him and the label into stardom as this album is looked at as one of the many classic east coast albums that came out during this period. Rampage would release his debut album in 1997, along with Busta Rhymes' second album. The label soon released an album by Flipmode Squad, The Imperial Album. By 1999, the group and label were one of the most popular crews in hip hop, with Busta Rhymes as their central star and leader. Despite this, Busta was looking for a change as he was disappointed with the way that Elektra handled his last project and Rah Digga's debut, Dirty Harriet sold poorly. After the release of his album, Anarchy, Busta began looking for a way to move him and his squad to another label, but had only released four out of the five albums in his deal with Warner Bros. Records. So, in 2000, he released a compilation album and began to search for a new home.
[edit] J Records (2000-2004)
After he moved the label away from Elektra, he had begun talking to Clive Davis, who had been recently ousted from Arista Records. He mentioned to Busta that he had recently created a new imprint at Sony, J Records. Clive told Busta that he had yet to sign anyone to the label and would be glad to distribute Busta and his Flipmode Records. The deal was done by November of 2000 and Busta Rhymes began work on his fifth album, Genesis. The album sold well, fueled by the P. Diddy-collaborated "Pass The Coursiver." The single was a big hit during the year of 2002 and introduced Busta Rhymes into a younger generation of fans and totally revitalized his career. After the hype surrounding Genesis died down, Busta began working on an album for his Flipmode Squad, Rah Digga, and himself. The first to be released was It Ain't Safe No More, which featured Mariah Carey and the Flipmode Squad. Three singles from the album got a lot of airplay, but the album stalled at gold, making it the worst-selling album in Busta Rhymes discography. To this Busta would blame on J Records not promoting his music properly, thing really reached a dramatic point when J did not release Rah Digga's album nor did they release the album by Flipmode. Busta got very frustrated with the label as they spent a substantial amount of money to promote Alicia Keys and her album. He said that when he went platinum on the label it was because of him and what he did out of his pocket because J Records neglected their hip hop acts, while they were big promoters of their R&B acts. He said that J is a label that doesn't need to have hip hop acts on their label, because they are more into releasing soul music. After the controversy occurred, they began associating themselves with Dr. Dre and Eminem, then rumors began to circulate that Busta was moving the label again. These rumors proved to be false at the time. He would record some songs with Eminem and Dr. Dre, but would continue to stay at J Records. From 2002 to 2004, nothing was heard from Flipmode Records as Busta Rhymes, the face of their label was doing more television than anything else. They resurfaced in 2005, when Busta Rhymes announced that he was planning to leave J Records and was recording his seventh album.
[edit] Aftermath/Interscope (2006-present)
In late 2005, Busta Rhymes had moved Flipmode once again, this time to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, a subsidiary of powerhouse label, Interscope Records. He celebrated the new distribution deal by cutting off his trademark dreadlocks and signing hip hop phenom, Papoose and Chauncey Black, formerly of Blackstreet. The deal came as no surprise to any hip hop fan as Dr. Dre had been producing for Busta since he had been signed to Elektra and he had began to be featured on many Shady/Aftermath projects during the years 2003 and 2004. In February 2006, he released the second single from his upcoming album "I Love My Chick." On June 13, 2006, Busta Rhymes released his seventh studio album The Big Bang. The album was a platinum success and returned the label back to the radio and back to hip hop prominence after a four year absence. This success would be short-lived as the label's next release, Have You Seen by Rampage failed to certify on the charts. Soon after, the label would run into more bad luck. Papoose, who was signed to a joint-venture with Streetsweepers Entertainment announced that he was leaving Flipmode after signing a $1 Million dollar contract with the label. Soon after, longtime Flipmode Records act Rah Digga left the label saying that it seemed that Busta had no desire to talk to Dr. Dre about putting her album out instead he was having too much of a good time partying. Despite this, the label is still a semi-success and the upcoming releases are Back On My BS by Busta, which is due in December 2007. Rampage's The Ambush is due sometime in November 2007, while longtime Flipmode rapper, Spliff Star is releasing his debut album, About Time. This release comes after the release of his mixtape The Contraband. Then Rampage is coming back with his fourth album, The Ambush 2, which will be a double album.
[edit] Current Artists
- Busta Rhymes
- Spliff Star
- Chauncey Black
- Rampage
- Reek da Villain
[edit] Former Artists
[edit] Discography
Past Albums
- Busta Rhymes - The Coming (1996)
- Busta Rhymes - When Disaster Strikes (1997)
- Rampage - Scouts Honor...By Way of Blood (1997)
- Flipmode Squad - The Imperial Album (1998)
- Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event (The Final World Front) (1998)
- Rah Digga - Dirty Harriet (2000)
- Busta Rhymes - Anarchy (2000)
- Busta Rhymes - Genesis (2001)
- Busta Rhymes - It Ain't Safe No More (2002)
- Rampage - Have You Seen? (2006)
- Busta Rhymes - The Big Bang (June 13, 2006)
Upcoming Albums
- Busta Rhymes - I'm Blessed (June 17, 2008)
- Rampage - The Ambush (November 2007)
- Chauncey Black - Church Boy (2007)
- Spliff Star - Contraband (street album) (2007)
- Spliff Star - About Time (early 2008)
- Rampage - The Ambush 2 (2CD's)(2008)
[edit] See also
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