Block Starz Music

Block Starz Music
Parent company	BSMF&T
Founded	2008
Founder	Bayer Mack Kai Denninger
Distributor(s)	Select-O-Hits
Genre	Various
Country of origin	US
Location	New Albany, Indiana
Official website	www.blockstarztv.com

Block Starz Music is an American independent record label owned and operated by Bayer Mack. Its catalog includes independent releases by Machine Gun Kelly, Lega-C, Rhymefest, and Ceddy Bu Rap Sumo as well as songs featuring Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Raheem DeVaugn, and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. ^[1] The label formed the independent film and television production company Block Starz Music Television in 2013.^[2]

History

2008–2009: Early years

Block Starz Music began as a promoter of free online mixtapes by recording artists signed to other labels before developing its regionally-themed compilation series as a way to attract and market its own talent. Block Starz Music's first official mixtape, Suburban Empire by ex-VH1 reality show star John Brown, was released in early 2009. An alumnus of Ego Trip’s The White Rapper Show, XXL Magazine put Brown "in the same category as Weird Al Yankovic" and lampooned the project.^[3] The first Block Starz compilation, West Coast Block Starz, was released in early February 2009 and featured various independent artists and guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, E-40, Keak da Sneak, and Daz Dillinger. While well received by reviewers,^[4][5] the effort was a commercial disappointment.

In the summer of 2009, Block Starz partnered with Atlanta-based D-Lo Entertainment to release Certified, the debut mixtape from future Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta cast member Rasheeda.^[6][7][8] The company would go on to have more success with the mixtape release What's High? by a nineteen-year-old Jewish rapper from Youngstown, OH named Throwback,^[9] who at the time had the same manager as a then unsigned Wiz Khalifa. Block Starz Music quickly signed Throwback, who had recorded two songs with Khalifa, as its first official artist and began work on East Coast Block Starz in the fall of 2009.^[10] Released on December 29 with the song "Was It" by Throwback featuring Wiz Khalifa as the lead single, East Coast Block Starz received generally favorable reviews,^[11] though critics noted it had a decidedly more commercial slant than its predecessor.^[12] In addition to "Was It", which benefited from the growing popularity of Wiz Khalifa, Boston native Supastar LT's collaboration, "I Love My City", with Kardinal Offishall and Red Cafe also became a popular-selling download from the project.

2010–2011: Rise of the brand

As part of a grassroots marketing effort to promote its brand and scout new talent, Block Starz began co-sponsoring regional music awards, beginning in February 2010 with the 4th Annual Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Awards^[13] and later with the 3rd Annual South Carolina Music Awards held on July 10, 2010.^[14] It was also during this time that the label came across a young, unsigned Cleveland, Ohio artist named Machine Gun Kelly, who had won "Best Performer" at the Ohio Hip-Hop Awards in 2009, and signed an agreement to release the rapper's single "Alice In Wonderland" as part of its upcoming Midwest Block Starz compilation.

On March 5 of 2010, Block Starz announced that Grammy Award winner Rhymefest had signed on to the Midwest Block Starz project,^[15] which by then already featured appearances by rappers Twista, Shawnna, and newcomer Big Sean.^[16] Released on May 26, the compilation spawned a minor hit with Rhymefest's radio-friendly "Say Wassup" featuring Phonte of Little Brother, but "Alice In Wonderland" would go on to become the company's best-selling single to date, with the music video winning "Best Video" at the 2010 Ohio Hip-Hop Awards.^[17]

Block Starz Music signed Topeka, Kansas rapper Mike Schpitz after his appearance on Midwest Block Starz and released his 11-track EP debut, Stanley Ipkiss: Year of the Nice Guy on August 3, 2010.^[18] Inspired by Jim Carrey's character from the 1994 box office smash The Mask, critical response to project was mixed,^[19] but the EP debuted in Amazon.com's Top 20 new Hip-Hop releases and Top 50 new Alternative releases in Germany, becoming the label's best-selling solo release to date.^[20]

In April 2011, it was widely reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at Universal Records and Jive Records to acquire Block Starz Music.^[21][22][23]

On September 1, 2011 the label announced the signing of Tulsa, Oklahoma rapper/singer/producer Lega-C,^[24] whose viral YouTube video, "White Girl Raps Fast", would go on to generate millions of views at various popular music and entertainment websites online.^{[25][26][27][28]} Seeking to capitalize off Lega-C's growing YouTube popularity, Block Starz Music announced the release of a video mixtape titled "Who Got Tha Heater" featuring eight freestyle remixes of popular singles by artists like Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Drake, Kanye West, and two original songs.^[29][30] On December 5, 2011, in a statement released through her label, Lega-C confirmed the existence of a pornographic home video and pictures taken by an ex-boyfriend years earlier.^[31]

On November 29, 2011, Block Starz Music released "Macho Man" by Delwin Tha Krazyman, which featured the national debut of 650-pound Plaquemine, Louisiana rapper Ceddy Bu Rap Sumo. Ceddybu also collaborated with Lega-C for track "Don't F Around" featured on the CD version of the female rapper's major indie debut Off My Medication.^[32][33]

2012: Left Eye, "Bath Salts", Off My Medication

On February 9, 2012, Block Starz signed 16-year-old Auburn, New York rapper and Floyd Mayweather Jr protégé Cameron Sanders, aka Young Siege, and announced plans to feature him on East Coast Block Starz 2. ^[34] On February 22, 2012, the label signed Bootleg of Flint, Michigan rap group The Dayton Family and unveiled the rapper’s previously-unreleased collaboration with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC to commemorate the upcoming tenth anniversary of the pop star’s death on April 25, 2002. Recorded a few months before her death, Left Eye‘s verse on the song “Fantasies” is the only 16-bar feature she ever recorded with another rapper.^{[35][36][37][38][39][40]}

Block Starz Music's newly signed satirical comedy rapper, Dickward Codgers, made national headlines in August 2012 with the release of his controversial music video, “Bath Salts”, which featured what label executives deemed to be excessive drug references and graphic depictions of violence and was the company's first to carry an official disclaimer.^[41]

Lega-C's debut album on Block Starz Music, titled Off My Medication, was released October 31, 2012.^[42] The first music video from Off My Medication, "That Bitch", debuted online October 22 as a street release to the official radio single, "Speaking Sublimely", which features Wrekonize of Strange Music’s acclaimed rap/rock band ¡Mayday!.^[43][44] Reviews for the album have been positive, with critics declaring, "the Tulsa Twista is more than a one trick pony" and the release as "a collection of defiant grit anthems that exhibit how Lega-C continues to prove that looks can be deceiving". The album's sound has been praised as, "real rap; kinda West-Coastish from the late 90's but definitely 2012. Hard beats and a sleek, clean lyrical flow." ^[45][46][47] One day after the digital release of Off My Medication, it was announced that a CD version of the album would be distributed nationally by Select-O-Hits.^[48][49]

Waffle House® Controversy

Less than a week after the July 20, 2011 digital release of “Waffle House”, the debut single from newly signed Block Starz Music recording artist J.R. Bricks, legal counsel for WH Capital, LLC and Waffle House, Inc., owner and licensee of the Waffle House® trademarks respectively, issued a cease and desist letter to the label claiming improper and unauthorized usage.^[50][51][52] In response, Block Starz Music changed the song's title to “After the Club”. This sparked cries of racism by some in the online Hip-Hop community who saw the southern restaurant chain's move as an effort to distance itself from its, predominately black and Latino, early morning weekend customers.^[53] In a statement to Billboard Magazine, a Waffle House spokesperson denied claims of racial or cultural discrimination saying, "We embrace all cultures within Waffle House. All you have to do is come eat with us and you see that."^[54]

Removal of CEO

On December 24, 2012, the label announced that its German chief executive officer, Kai Denninger, would no longer be with the company and that the label's founder and president, Bayer Mack, would take over Denninger's duties, effective immediately.^[55]

“Kai Denninger will no longer be with the company,” Mack said in a brief statement posted to his personal LinkedIn profile on Christmas Eve. “Kai was instrumental in helping us build the Block Starz Music brand. He will be greatly missed and we wish him nothing but the best in all his future endeavors.”^[56]

Block Starz Music Television

In February 2013, after arranging for Ceddy Bu Da Rap Sumo to appear on the TruTV comedy series Upload with Shaquille O'Neal,^[57] the label announced the formation of the spinoff company Block Starz Music Television, formerly The BlockStarz.Tv Network, to produce an original web series around Ceddy Bu and other recording artists on the label's roster.^[58] On January 3, 2014, it was reported that Ceddy Bu (born Cedrick Smith) was killed when a car he was a passenger in ran off the road and flipped.^[59][60]

This Is Dante

On May 8, 2013, Block Starz Music Television co-produced “This Is Dante”, a half-hour comedy web series that followed the misadventures of Bronx, NY native Dante Hillmedo (Andrew Hillmedo Jr.), an American actor, who most notably appeared in 2008's major motion picture Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and his struggles to launch a rap career.^[61][62][63]

The Czar of Black Hollywood

On January 19, 2014, Block Starz Music Television previewed the first episode of The Czar of Black Hollywood, an original documentary web series chronicling the life of African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.^[64][65][66]

Discography

Albums

• BSM-1000: West Coast Block Starz – Various Artists
• BSM-1001: East Coast Block Starz – Various Artists
• BSM-1002: Midwest Block Starz – Various Artists
• BSM-1003: Top Model Super Fashion – The NUV
• BSM-1004: Stanley Ipkiss: Year of the Nice Guy – Mike Schpitz
• BSM-1005: The Ripple Effect – Ragz Mo' Rocka
• BSM-1006: She Got Next 2011 – Various Artists
• BSM-1007: Digital Money – Money First
• BSM-1008: Down South Block Starz – Various Artists
• BSM-1009: Soul: Best of the Block Vol.1 – Various Artists
• BSM-1010: The Manual Procedures – Boom Blake
• BSM-1011: Off My Medication – Lega-C

Singles

• BSM-0100: “Alice In Wonderland” – Machine Gun Kelly
• BSM-0101: “Was It” – Throwback ft. Wiz Khalifa
• BSM-0102: “Catch Me” – Barbara Kiss
• BSM-0103: “Where We Started” – Life Size Ghost
• BSM-0104: “Ima Be Okay” – Nicole Michelle
• BSM-0105: “Shoe Fetish” – Shelly B
• BSM-0106: “Thought I Had It All” – Illa Scorsese ft. Lela Bizz & Cakes
• BSM-0107: “Waffle House” – J.R. Bricks
• BSM-0108: “After The Club” – J.R. Bricks
• BSM-0109: “Got It On Lock” – Boom Blake
• BSM-0110: “White Girl Raps Fast” – Lega-C
• BSM-0111: “Who Got Tha Heater” – Lega-C
• BSM-0112: “Macho Man” – Delwin Tha Krazyman ft. Ceddy Bu & Hollyhood Bay Bay
• BSM-0113: “Fuck Em All” – Lega-C
• BSM-0114: “Fantasies” – Bootleg (of The Dayton Family) ft. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
• BSM-0115: “We Doin' It” – Loced Out Ent. ft. Lil Young & Tum Tum
• BSM-0116: “Wilt Chamberlain” – Boom Blake
• BSM-0117: “Bath Salts” – Dickward Codgers

Notes

External links

• Block Starz Music