Like A Boss: 7 Music Figures Who Have Held Executive Positions At Major Labels [PHOTOS]

Rick Ross makes it look like Maybachs and steak dinners, but even he’ll tell you that it’s not easy being the boss. Yes, running things provides one with notoriety, and a hefty paycheck but when you’re the face behind a major record label, you also bare potential blame for any musical mishaps.

Since navigating through the maze that is the music industry is no easy feat, it makes sense that artists turn into record executives. Perhaps it’s their career perseverance that makes major labels offer them executive gigs—or the fact that no one can relate to an artist better than an artist—but either way there’s a trend brewing in the entertainment world. With record sales not moving like they used to, labels are looking towards artists and producers to spearhead projects for the acts on their roster.

Atlanta hit maker Dallas Austin became the latest member of the music elite to settle in on a day job, as Senior Vice President of A&R at Island Records. While the Island Def Jam family is known to shower producers and artists with executive positions, several others labels have followed suit.

In honor of Austin’s new position, take a look at some other music figures who held a boss title at major labels.

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Photo: XXL

Jay-Z

Who can forget the Carter Administration? Back in 2004, Jay completed his metamorphosis into a full-blown music executive when he became president of Def Jam. Among Hov’s biggest wins was signing Rihanna, but before long Brooklyn’s finest had enough of working for the legendary Hip-Hop label and moved on to start Roc Nation.

Ne-Yo

With pages upon pages of song-writing credits to his name, moving into an executive position with a label was a natural choice for Ne-Yo. The Las Vegas native was named A&R executive of Motown Records earlier in the year.

DJ Khaled

Khaled is not only a solid producer, DJ, and rapper (yes, he spits from time to time), but he also has an impressive title on his name plate: president of Def Jam South. Khaled was appointed to the position in early 2009.

Scarface

Before Khaled got on board, Scarface was the head honcho over at Def Jam South. He ended up leaving in 2010. Among his issues included accusing the label (which apparently passed on signing T.I.) of being out of touch with Hip-Hop.

Jermaine Dupri

Music is in Jermaine Dupri’s blood. As the son of former Columbia Records president Michael Mauldin, it was only a matter of time before he entered the family business. Dupri, launched So So Def Records, held a presidential position at Virgin, and later at Island Records. Unfortunately, the latter didn’t end on good terms.

Snoop Dogg

The Doggfather got his shot in the executive chair in 2009 when he was named chairman of EMI’s Priority Records. Under his new gig, Snoop was hired to re-launch the label responsible for many West Coast rap acts, and “drive efforts to maximize untapped digital and branding opportunities.”

Chuuuch.

**Honorable Mention: Diddy

Sean Combs built a career off being a record executive. Admittedly following in the footsteps of Russell Simmons, Combs is known for turning his Bad Boy Records imprint into the Hip-Hop juggernaut of yesteryear. Although he never nabbed an executive spot at a major label we’ve gotta give Diddy credit for holding it down on his own terms for so many years.