It looks like the graveyard shift has taken full effect as E1 Entertainment, formerly known as Koch Records, has become the new Hip-Hop label for artists in order to create their music. With the ball now in their court, they have now made another power play by partnering itself up with the online digital release label Amalgam Digital.
Known to hold artists such as Joe Budden and Saigon, Amalgam has undergone a deal with E1 where they will be able to release new studio and catalogue albums by these twoMCs. They have joined the ranks of the label that features artists such as Styles P, Sheek Louch, Slaughterhouse and many others. The label has been deemed as a safe haven for Hip-Hop artists to escape the pressures to conform by the major record label and be able to fully express themselves creatively.
Harlem-bred artist Jim Jones is the Vice President of Urban A&R for E1 which seems to fit as he has been a part of the label before the masses began flocking and Koch was known as the graveyard where careers basically were on the verge of ending.
Saigon will be the first to hit the place as his street album, Warning Shots 2, should hit shelves September 29. If all goes well and there are no push-backs, Budden will follow as The Great Escape should rear its head sometime in 2009.
As of late, E1 has been running things in terms of the independent circuit. Their last release, Dorrough, marked their 195th album to debut at the #1 position on the Independent Chart.
Artists have stated the benefits of making the move independently even though they don’t have the financial backing provided with the majors. HipHopWIred.com spoke with Guru and Solar who commented on the benefits of being independent with their own label 7 Grand and that fact that those on majors may not be releasing work that they wanted in terms of creativity.
“I have always wanted to do this, and to be able to do that now is great. I’m in a good place because that creative control is something that couldn’t be better for an artist. At the end of the day we make all those decisions and the buck stops here with Guru and Solar. There’s a lot of responsibility and you have to wear many hats, but at the same time you are in control of what the product is and where it is going.” (Guru)
“I would also add on that with Guru and Solar being independent, we can bring the albums that we feel without the interference of that and eliminating that situation from our cipher. I can say that I’m listening to a few albums today and I really don’t believe, from knowing these artists, these are albums that they wanted to make.” (Solar)
Well it might be time for the dead to rise as E1 Entertainment has risen and maintained that it has come to make a statement.
