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More than any other form of music, hip-hop is and always has been about business — one of its earliest call-and-response chants was “Make money, money.” That hasn’t changed in the years between the genre’s inception in the early 1970s and today, when at least two rapper-entrepreneurs are billionaires. But while MCs might be the ones holding the mic, hip-hop would never have become such a culture-shifting force without smart, savvy and dedicated people making sure the music reaches ears.
This list, celebrating hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, is intended to honor those who have made that industry into what it is. To compile it, Variety editors teamed up with the Black Music Action Coalition, created a list of nominees (with a write-in option) and sent it to a select list of several dozen executives, journalists and other veteran observers. Around 40 people voted, and this is the result.
There are some artists on the list, but they’re recognized here for their business contributions to the genre — artists who founded or co-founded their own labels, such as Eazy-E and Master P and Lil Wayne, as well as world-beating entrepreneurs who did that and a lot more, including Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Diddy, 50 Cent and others, whose empires are part of hip-hop’s foundation but also reach far beyond it. There are some controversial individuals on this list, but their real or alleged transgressions should not take away from their contributions to the business and the culture. There are also some people who are grouped together — this alphabetically arranged list includes 51 people, owing to a tie — because business is often about partnerships.
No opinion-based list is perfect, and this one isn’t either — some foundational executives whose heyday was in the 1980s may not have gotten their due, probably because later generations simply aren’t as aware of their contributions. Conversely, the “all time” means there are almost no people on the list who rose to prominence in the past decade (which is about how long it takes to cement GOAT status). But a voting group of 40 people seems like a decent sample size, and a more elaborate selection process would have likely meant a different set of imperfections. We did not alter the results at all, except to disqualify honorees’ votes for themselves.
People will argue about this list, but it wouldn’t be hip-hop without controversy. So, in honor of those who made this music and this business what it is — and will become — here’s to the next 50 years …
50 Cent
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The man born Curtis Jackson was already one of the world’s biggest rappers when he co-created Starz’s “Power” — a fitting title, since he’d long used it. He kickstarted his career by creating his own G-Unit mixtape series, revolutionizing the medium while drawing Dr. Dre and Eminem’s attention. In recent years, he’s moved aggressively into the television world and now exec produces dozens of shows across multiple networks. But his biggest play occurred in 2004, when he eschewed a standard endorsement deal with Vitaminwater in favor of stock, a move that paid off handsomely when Coca-Cola acquired the company for $4.2 billion.
Dallas Austin
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His name might reference two of Texas’ major cities, but the music producer has been an Atlanta institution for decades. He first made his mark in the late ’80s and early ’90s with Doug E. Fresh and Boyz II Men, but he soon refined his sound into an influential fusion of sleek Southern hip-hop with a dollop of pop, notably on TLC’s “Ooooooohhh … on the TLC Tip” and “CrazySexyCool” albums. On the heels of that success, he went on to work with Brandy (co-producing her 1998 smash duet with Monica, “The Boy Is Mine”), Michael Jackson, Madonna and others, while founding three labels: Rowdy Records, Limp and Freeworld Entertainment.
Jay Brown
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Brown began his career at Quincy Jones’ company before moving fully to the label side with stints at Elektra and Def Jam Records. At the latter, he worked closely with a young singer named Rihanna, alongside the label’s then-president, Jay-Z, laying the foundation for what would become the Roc Nation. Since co-founding the company in 2008, Brown, now vice chairman, has played a key role in transforming it into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages top talent (Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Megan Thee Stallion, Shakira, Big Sean and many others) and operates a label, with divisions devoted to branding, sports, publishing, philanthropy, music distribution and education.
Luther “Luke” Campbell
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It’s fitting that Luther Campbell goes by many names — including Uncle Luke and Luke Skyywalker — as he’s served in a variety of roles across his career. Campbell essentially created the promoter-to-executive career path in hip-hop, booking local venues before signing 2 Live Crew to his record label. He eventually became the group’s frontman and led them to a nationwide controversy over its “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” album, which was actually examined before Congress. Campbell’s entrepreneurship and ability to capitalize on controversy played a huge role in the rise of Southern hip-hop.
Lyor Cohen
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Cohen cut his teeth at Russell Simmons’ Rush Artist Management, where he famously turned Run-DMC’s love of Adidas sneakers into a lucrative — and then unprecedented — endorsement deal. He went on to become one of the most successful record executives of the era, elevating Def Jam and expanding Warner Music’s reach before co-founding 300 Entertainment in 2012. That company spawned the careers of Young Thug, Megan Thee Stallion and Gunna even after he left to become YouTube’s music head in 2016 — yet 300 continued to grow, and Cohen and the three co-founders sold it to Warner in 2021 for $400 million.
Sean Combs
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From an Uptown Records intern to Combs Global C-suites, with hit records, branded spirits, clothing labels and charitable foundations in between, Combs — whether going by Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, just Diddy or his real name — has turned his signature hype-man lyric, “Can’t stop, won’t stop,” into the guiding principle of a unique and multifaceted career. By itself, his Bad Boy Entertainment company — home to Notorious B.I.G. — would merit his inclusion here for its role in propelling hip-hop into the mainstream. But Combs’ capacity for reinvention and diversification has enabled him to stay relevant for more than 30 years; he expanded into fashion spirits and wellness while setting an example for other aspiring moguls to follow.
Damon “Dame” Dash, Kareem Burke and Kyambo Joshua
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The b-boys had clearly entered the boardroom with the trifecta that launched the fabled Roc-A-Fella label with Jay-Z in 1995. They wore their street origins proudly, demanding seats at decision-making tables not in spite of but because of these roots. The trio built on Jay’s success, first by signing hitmakers like Kanye West and Cam’ron, then moving on to fashion success with Rocawear, pursuing corporate partnerships and producing a slate of successful films like “Paid in Full.” Each exec brought his own talents to the Roc: A&R whiz Joshua formed the management-production company Hip Hop Since 1978, Burke is the student of street-level marketing and distribution, and Dash is the brash CEO.
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It’s hard to say whether Andre Young has made a greater impact on the entertainment industry as an artist, producer or entrepreneur: As co-founder of both N.W.A and Death Row Records before moving on to his own Aftermath Entertainment, he defined the sound of “G-funk,” achieving massive creative and commercial success with Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar. Dre’s ongoing partnership with Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine led to Beats by Dre headphones and its streaming service — all sold to Apple in May 2014 for some $3 billion.
Jermaine Dupri
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When Dupri says he’s been in the music business for nearly his entire life, it’s no exaggeration: He was a 12-year-old dancer for the early rap trio Whodini. While still a teenager himself, he met the pair of teens who’d become Kris Kross, the multi-platinum-selling, baggy-pants-backward-wearing rap act that solidified his status as a producer and executive. Dupri’s So So Def Recordings has been home to artists including Da Brat, Bow Wow and Rocko as well as a launching pad for Lil Jon and Scooter Braun. Only the second rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Dupri also scored a long-running TV hit with Lifetime’s “The Rap Game.
E-40
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Aside from being one of the Bay Area’s most animated rappers, E-40 was an entrepreneur from the jump, founding Sick Wid It Records in 1988 and signing Suga-T. But as his roster matured, so did E-40’s empire: He ventured into the beverage industry, launching over 15 different still and sparkling wines under his “Earl Stevens Selections” line along with a myriad of other liquors. In 2021, he also launched a food brand, “Goon With The Spoon,” and most recently expanded those offerings by introducing a line of new ice cream. E-40 is the co-owner of the Lumpia Company, a growing Filipino food business with a restaurant in Oakland, and owner of early-priced stock in Clubhouse and SpaceX — making him the self-made millionaire he had once manifested in his music.
Eazy-E (1964-1995)
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Dr. Dre and Ice Cube might be more recognized, but the rise of N.W.A was initially bankrolled and driven by the late Eric “Eazy-E” Wright. Co-founder of America’s “most dangerous group,” N.W.A, the Compton-born Eazy launched Ruthless Records in 1987, its first successes coming from the single “Boyz-n-the-Hood” and the label’s first album release, “Straight Outta Compton” — which was eventually certified triple platinum by the RIAA, remarkable for an indie. After N.W.A split up, Eazy-E strove for a diverse roster, signing Tairrie B, hip-hop’s first female white rapper, to the label’s subsidiary, and debuted the revered Ohio-based R&B group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. However, he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1995, at the age of just 30.
Ghazi
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When Ghazi Shami founded Empire, the distribution company and label in 2010, his goal was self-evident: He began a methodical, regional conquest of independent releases from future and even long-established superstars — early releases from Atlantans Rich Homie Quan and Migos, then up-and-coming Los Angeles rappers Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, and New York icons Fat Joe and Busta Rhymes. He also helped launch the career of the late XXXTentacion, who had become one of rap’s biggest rising stars before his death in 2018. Since those victories, Empire has gained the reputation of an international powerhouse, bringing not only hip-hop and R&B and Afrobeats to the world at large — but even finding new worlds to explore via a partnership with Web3’s investment platform Nebula.
Irv Gotti
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As the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry raged in the late ’90s, the sound of the genre changed as well, with New York’s boom-bap sound ceding ground to Dr. Dre’s G-funk compositions and Diddy’s dance grooves. Enter Gotti: The DJ-turned-A&R exec became a vertically integrated force in restoring the Big Apple to its gritty roots by way of his work with Def Jam signees Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule. Through the latter, he launched Murder Inc., which showcased Gotti’s hitmaking prowess as an exec, producer, director and image shaper; the label created hits for his own stable of artists (Rule, Ashanti) and others (Jennifer Lopez, Eve).
Julie Greenwald
Widely acknowledged as one of the top executives in the music industry, Greenwald began her career at Rush Management, working closely with LL Cool J and Public Enemy before moving over to Def Jam Records. In 2004, her then-boss Lyor Cohen brought her to Warner Music, where she and A&R ace Craig Kallman created one of the strongest and most enduring partnerships in contemporary music history. Greenwald has played a major role in the careers of hip-hop superstars such as Cardi B, Jack Harlow, Lil Uzi Vert, Lizzo and Wiz Khalifa, to name a few — and last year was upped to CEO of the newly formed Atlantic Music Group.
Ethiopia Habtemariam
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Habtemariam began her career at 14 as an intern for LaFace Records. She moved into the publishing world and worked her way up the ranks at Universal Music Publishing — signing or working closely with Childish Gambino, Hit Boy, J. Cole, Justin Bieber and Quavo — until she was named head of urban at the company. In 2011, she added a senior VP role at the legendary Motown Records, and three years later was named president, becoming one of just two Black female major-label heads. She revitalized the iconic company, striking a partnership with Quality Control Music — bringing Migos, Lil Baby and Lil Yachty into the fold — and worked closely with Erykah Badu, Vince Staples and Diddy. She stunned the industry by stepping down from her post last December, but it’s safe to assume big plans are in the works.
Andre Harrell (1960-2020)
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“Early on, Andre was able to see hip-hop as a lifestyle,” says Harrell’s greatest protégé, Sean “Diddy” Combs. “He showed us how to use it to build a Black economy.”
Originally a teen rapper as half of the duo Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, the New York City native started his career at Def Jam and soon launched Uptown Records. Perhaps it was his sales background, but more than his contemporaries, Harrell injected lifestyle into his operations, propelling “ghetto-fabulous” from a mantra into a corporate blueprint. Uptown was a powerhouse during the ’80s and ’90s, launching the careers of Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Al B. Sure!, Guy, Heavy D & the Boyz and not least, Combs, an intern-turned-A&R-whiz whom Harrell famously fired essentially for insubordination, leading to the formation of Bad Boy Records. (“I fired him to make him rich,” Harrell later said.)
He left Uptown to become president of Motown Records, expanded into film and television with “Strictly Business” (a launching pad for Halle Berry) and “New York Undercover,” and later reunited with Combs as president of Bad Boy and vice chairman of Revolt TV. His greatest success, though, was arguably as a mentor. “When he saw hip-hop, he saw something bigger,” Diddy says. “He didn’t minimize it the way it had been minimized — he really saw it globally. When people were first making the music, Andre was dreaming big and preparing us for what hip-hop is today.”
Stephen Hill
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In his nearly two-decade tenure at BET, Hill rose to become president of programming and brought hiphop with him every step of the way. He not only helped launch the BET Hip-Hop Awards but played a key role in the landmark hip-hop music video show “106 & Park,” a central source of music videos and hip-hop culture for 90 minutes, five days a week. The show gave BET the highest television ratings it had ever received as it documented unforgettable moments, from G-Unit appearances to Aaliyah’s last televised interview. Hill left BET in 2017 and is running his own production company, Czar.
Cathy Hughes
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She may not be a household name, but Hughes is a trailblazer for both female music executives and hip-hop culture. As the first female VP and general manager at WHUR in Washington, D.C., she pioneered the “Quiet Storm” format. She then founded Urban One (originally known as Radio One) in 1980, which became the largest Black-owned and -operated radio and television broadcast company in the U.S., and in 1999 was the first Black female to head a company listed on NASDAQ; by 2007, the company owned 70 stations in 22 markets. She has been listed as the second-richest Black woman in the United States — after Oprah Winfrey.
Jimmy Iovine
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Iovine’s unique career has seen him achieve major success as a recording engineer, record producer and chief of a major label, headphone company and streaming service. His role in the hip-hop business began at Interscope Records when he first heard N.W.A and marveled at Dr. Dre’s production work. He soon found not only a new multiplatinum artist, via Dre’s galvanizing 1992 “The Chronic” album, but also a business partner: The pair founded the iconic Beats by Dre headphones, then the Beats Music streaming service. They ultimately sold the whole operation for $3 billion, joining Apple Music in the process. Now “retired,” Iovine continues to have irons in many fires, including with Dre. In 2013, the pair donated $70 million to launch a music business program at the University of Southern California.
Jay-Z
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To paraphrase one of his most-frequently quoted lyrics, in March 2023, Jay-Z officially became a $2.5 billion business, man. The Brooklyn native has earned that rep, not only as one of the top-selling rappers of all time but by launching Roc-A-Fella Records, amassing a diverse portfolio including clothing, spirits, a streaming service and a stint as president of Def Jam. His varied skill set came in handy when Live Nation dangled supersized 360 deals to megastars, and Jay-Z leveraged his deal into the birth of Roc Nation, which over the years has counted Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Shakira and big-name athletes among its clients. In 2019, the company announced a partnership with the NFL as special entertainment consultants; it has directed the entertainment for every Super Bowl halftime show since.
Craig Kallman
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A teen DJ at such legendary clubs as Danceteria and Area, Kallman launched Big Beat Records out of his New York City bedroom in 1987 and sold more than 250,000 copies of his second release, Kraze’s “The Party.” He brought the label and himself to Atlantic in 1991, and while he’d scored hits with artists including Notorious B.I.G.’s posse group Junior M.A.F.I.A., he and the label truly hit their stride when Julie Greenwald joined from Def Jam in 2004. The two of them set a tag-team model that has been emu – lated throughout the industry. With such artists as Lil Uzi Vert, Cardi B, A Boogie, Kodak Black and Jack Harlow, the label’s success in hip-hop would not have happened without Michael Kyser, the company’s president of Black music since 2011.
Suge Knight
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He’s currently serving a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, and it’s difficult to separate Knight from his long history of violence, which he used as an image- (and business-) building tactic at his Death Row Records. The company became an explosively successful and controversial force in the 1990s, building gangsta rap into a global phenomenon with culture-shifting albums from Dr. Dre, Tupac and Snoop Dogg. However, he and the label played no small role in inflaming the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that led to the murders of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.; Knight’s legal difficulties mounted, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2006. But his and the label’s influence and contributions are immense and enduring.
Debra Lee
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A member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, Lee was instru – mental in making hip-hop a pillar of pop culture across all media, largely via her 32-year career at BET’s parent company, Viacom. While there, she oversaw its influential publishing division, helping to shape hip-hop’s public image. Inheriting BET’s pres – ident and CEO roles in 2005 from its founder, Robert Johnson, Lee held those posts until she left the company 13 years later, helping to revitalize mainstays such as “106 & Park” while increasing quality and budgets across all programming. Meanwhile, through partnerships such as the “Black Girls Rock!” awards show, Lee has high – lighted women’s contributions to hiphop, from MC Lyte and Queen Latifah to Missy Elliott and Rihanna.
Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas
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The Atlanta-based music label Quality Control was launched in 2013 when Lee, a veteran artist manager for Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane, joined forces with streetwise studio owner Thomas. The label hit the ground running, springboarding the career of Migos, which was followed in rapid succession by those of Lil Yachty, Lil Baby and City Girls. QC’s founders continued to build on that success with their Solid Foundation Management company, Quality Control Sports and Quality Films, founded in 2020. In February, QC was acquired by the U.S. division of HYBE, home of BTS, for $320 million in stock and cash — not only a sound investment but arguably a bargain.
Chris Lighty (1968-2012)
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Bronx-born Lighty was co-founder (with Mona Scott-Young) of Violator Management — where he negotiated 50 Cent’s deal with Vitaminwater, which ended up netting the rapper a reported $100 million — and worked at Rush Management and Def Jam, Jive and Loud Records. We’ll let his longtime friend Busta Rhymes take it from here:
Chris Lighty is truly the greatest manager that has ever lived.
I met Mona Scott-Young because of Chris Lighty.
Chris Lighty is a Taurus like me.
Chris is the big brother I never had.
I am one of the first Violator artists. When Rush Management was coming to an end, Lyor Cohen asked the reps which artists they would take with them to start their own shit.
Chris said the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and us, Leaders of the New School, and started Violator. The others went in different directions, and when Leaders of the New School broke up, I stayed with Chris.
At this point, I was the only Violator Management artist.
What I was fortunate to have with Chris was his undivided attention.
His care. His education.
That big brother that I wish I had. Leadership.
He had the streets, and he had my back.
And what happened with me and him was my first solo album was a success and is what contributed in the most significant way to the growth of Violator.
Every artist saw what he did with me and what I did with him, and it helped Violator become one of the world’s biggest management companies.
When Mona Scott-Young and Chris Lighty got together, they created something that had never been seen on that level before. There will never be another Violator.
And there will never be another movement that can compete or compare to the level of greatness of Chris and Mona as individuals.
And especially how unfuckwitable they were when they were together.
I love them so much. They were everything to a lot of our lives.
Rest in Peace to the greatest to ever do it, Chris Lighty, and I’m grateful still to have Mona Scott-Young as a part of my evolution.
Violator for life!
Lil Jon
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The Grammy-winning entertainer and entrepreneur born Jonathan Smith has come a long way from deejaying high school parties in his family’s Atlanta basement. As the frontman for Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, the rapper-producer is responsible for introducing hip-hop’s Southern subgenre crunk to the mainstream and helping to make Atlanta the capital of hip-hop. He made his mark as an A&R executive at Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def label and later started his own company, BME Recordings. Along the way, he’s had hits with Usher (the 2004 No. 1 single “Yeah!”) and written and produced songs for Ciara, Too Short, Tyga and Saweetie. A magnet for commercial endorsements, Jon recently announced a new season of his HGTV home-renovation show, “Lil Jon Wants to Do What?”
Lil Wayne
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Starting a label has long been a vanity project for superstars, who can squeeze extra dollars out of their parent companies while giving friends a chance to cut a (usually soon forgotten) album. Lil Wayne is a towering exception to that rule: The dynamic rapper signed two global superstars to his Young Money imprint — Drake and Nicki Minaj — along with DJ Khaled, Tyga, Austin Mahone and others over the years. And the A&R influence of Weezy — just one of his many nicknames — is echoed in the likes of Yo Gotti and Gucci Mane, both of whom have signed artists with profiles larger than their own in GloRilla and Young Thug.
Kevin Liles
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Ascending from unpaid intern to president during the glory years of Def Jam Records, Liles helped expand the label via new divisions including Def Jam South and partnerships with Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records and Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc. He played a similar role when Def Jam’s leadership team (including Lyor Cohen and Julie Greenwald) moved to Warner Music in 2004. Liles has also worked as manager for acts ranging from Mariah Carey and D’Angelo to Nelly and Big Sean. In 2012, he co-founded 300 Entertainment and ultimately became its chairman-CEO while introducing superstars including Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug and Gunna — although the latter two were jailed last year on racketeering charges. Even so, 300 was sold to Warner Music for $400 million and merged with the company’s Elektra division, creating 300 Elektra Entertainment, and Liles sits at the helm.
Master P
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At the end of the 1990s, New Orleans native Master P and his No Limit Records created a mini empire of albums, mixtapes and artists bedecked with instantly identifiable, computer-generated artwork. The company was so hot at the time that it even signed Snoop Dogg. But it was Master P himself who spawned some of the label’s biggest hits, with a slate of solo albums such as 1996’s “Ice Cream Man” and his platinum trademark single, “Make ’Em Say Uhh!” With a long series of businesses — ranging from ownership of wrestling teams to philanthropy — Master P has influenced countless entrepreneurs, from Gucci Mane to Quality Control.
Mark Pitts
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When Pitts ascended to the presidency of RCA Records in 2021, it was just the latest (and biggest) role in a multifaceted career as producer, artist manager and CEO of his ongoing ByStorm Entertainment company. In the early ’90s, he kickstarted his career by managing the Notorious B.I.G. and working with Diddy to develop Bad Boy. Later, he helped revitalize Nas’ career by negotiating an end to his high-profile beef with Jay-Z. As an exec, he launched a new generation of rappers by introducing J. Cole to the mainstream, all while keeping hip-hop commercially explosive via inspired pairings of rappers with R&B hitmakers.
Jon Platt
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Since starting out as a DJ in Denver, Platt has become the most dominant executive in music publishing, known for signing such global superstars as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Usher and many others. He honed his chops with a long stint at EMI before becoming CEO of Warner Chappell Music in 2015 and then taking the helm at Sony, the world’s largest music publisher, four years later, making him the highest-ranking Black executive at a major music company. Yet Platt has not only helped to guide the careers and businesses of countless artists and executives; he has also played a pioneering role in reshaping the way rappers are respected as songwriters. Crucially, he is renowned for an inclusive management style that has increased representation for women and people of color in senior leadership roles.
J. Prince
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On a foundational level, the key to the success of Rap-A-Lot Records’ co-founder and CEO is his talent-spotting ability, from connecting then-unknown Drake to Lil Wayne to finding future rap legends like Geto Boys and UGK almost in his Houston backyard. He didn’t just market the label’s artists: He promoted H-Town’s local culture of candy-paint cars and diamond grillz through videos, fashion and even boxing. In the process, Prince was a crucial player in transforming Southern hiphop from regional phenomenon to international recognition.
L.A. Reid
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Reid has held the top spot at three major labels: Def Jam, Epic and Arista Records (which he took over from his mentor, Clive Davis). Yet his A&R genius first flowered at LaFace Records, the Arista-distributed imprint he co-founded with platinum producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, which, via multiplatinum releases from superstars including Outkast, Usher and TLC, played a huge role in putting Atlanta’s sound and swagger on the map. Two themes that manifested at LaFace have proved to be the bedrock of Reid’s success: Go all-in on artist development and force the mainstream to come to authentic Black music — not the other way around.
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Sylvia Rhone
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Rhone was famously the first Black woman to become the CEO of a major label — and yet in a stinging indictment of the music industry, more than 30 years after she rose to that role, she is again the only one. She has led by example over four decades in the music industry: Like many future female executives, she began her career as a secretary and rose through the ranks at several labels, notably Atlantic, where her marketing and promotion acumen propelled her to CEO of the company’s EastWest imprint — shepherding En Vogue to multiplatinum success — and, four years later, Elektra. She was later named president of Universal Motown Records, signing deals with Lil Wayne, Erykah Badu and Akon — before stepping down in 2011 to strike a joint venture with Epic Records. In 2014, Rhone became president of Epic, and rose to chairwoman-CEO in 2019, a role she has held ever since.
Steve Rifkind
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As the son of Spring Records’ Jules Rifkind, the future founder of Loud Records clearly learned a lot from watching his dad release records from artists such as explicit R&B singer Millie Jackson and the Fatback Band. Although he managed R&B group New Edition for a spell, Rifkind made his mark with Loud, which he founded in 1991 and, the following year, beat out multiple major labels by signing the sprawling Staten Island collective Wu-Tang Clan. His secret? Allowing the members to release solo albums for other labels: Their success supercharged the group’s powerhouse brand. Loud followed with major releases from Big Pun, Krayzie Bone and Three 6 Mafia; Rifkind has also been a leader in street marketing and cross-promotion, influencing countless music companies and brands.
Gee Roberson
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A strong-willed mindset and business acumen are vital to managing some of hip-hop’s most outspoken artists, and Roberson has plenty of both: Over the years he’s played a key role in the management of Nicki Minaj, Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I., G-Eazy and Lil Nas X. Roberson began his music career in the early ’00s by serving as VP of A&R at Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, and later took on senior roles at Atlantic Records and as chairman of a relaunched Geffen Records. But his career peak is clearly in the present, as founding partner and current co-CEO of Blueprint Group/Maverick management firm.
Sylvia Robinson (1935-2011)
Photo : Uli Knörzer for Variety
If there are true O.G.s of the hip-hop record industry, it’s the late Sylvia Robinson and her husband Joe, co-founders of Sugar Hill Records, which in 1979 released what is universally considered the first rap single, Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” A music-biz veteran, Robinson had been a singer-guitarist — as half of the Mickey & Sylvia duo, who scored a 1957 smash with “Love Is Strange,” and her own 1973 hit “Pillow Talk” — and a producer. With Joe, she founded the ’70s R&B label All Platinum.
But the label hit hard times and folded, and one day Sylvia famously walked into the Harlem World disco and saw early rapper Lovebug Starski performing. “She saw him and thought, ‘This is something,’” says author Nelson George, a former Billboard journalist who may have been the first person ever to write about rap. Starski turned them down, so Sylvia simply looked for another rapper and found three, who became the Sugarhill Gang. “And once that worked,” George says, “they were smart enough to see that there was a whole community of artists who weren’t being signed.”
The pair made a formidable team. “If you had a cast a tough, Black, gangstery guy from the ’70s for a movie, Joe would have been perfect,” George says. “He had a gravelly voice, he was very brusque, he liked to curse. But Sylvia was charming and sexy in an old-school way, and she could seem sweet, although she was as tough as he was. She had a great eye for talent, she was the one who dealt with the artists and she was the one in the studio. The dark side, of course, is they also had the old record-business practices: They paid very little in advances or royalties, and when I visited the offices, let’s say there were a couple of questionable characters there. But to be fair, it wasn’t like they decided just rip off those kids — that’s just how it was done back then.”
Over the next couple of years, the company released some of the most pivotal singles of early hip-hop, particularly Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “The Message” — arguably the first socially conscious hip-hop single — and the anti-drug “White Lines.” Yet the company’s artist-unfriendly business practices and association with notorious mob-connected executive Morris Levy brought it down as quickly as it rose. However, she’d changed the world.
“Rapping was this public secret that a lot of people saw happening,” George says. “And she was the one who had the foresight to say, ‘This is something that should be recorded’ — very, very few other people saw it that way. Whether she ripped off artists is another thing, but she had the vision, she took the risks, and she did something extraordinary. And we have to give her the ultimate respect for that.”
Rick Rubin
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He only worked in the hip-hop world for a few years, but Rubin cast a long shadow. As co-founder of Def Jam Records and producer of some of the genre’s most pioneering and successful early albums — notably LL Cool J’s “Radio,” Run-DMC’s “Raising Hell” and the Beastie Boys’ “Licensed to Ill” — he honed a spare, punchy and rock-ish production style, focusing more on hard beats than danceability; he also brought LL, Public Enemy and others to the label. By 1988, he’d moved to L.A. and formed his own Def American label, becoming one of the most successful rock producers of the next 30 years. He occasionally dips back into hip-hop — working with the Geto Boys and on Kanye West’s “Yeezus” — but he’s long since made his mark.
RZA
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When Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (aka RZA) signed Wu-Tang Clan to Loud Records in 1992, he’d declined prior, bigger offers due to one sticking point: that each Clan member be free to make solo deals. This was brilliant marketing, and even smarter business — artists including Method Man and Ghostface cemented Wu-Tang as a movement, all while creating multiple new revenue streams. RZA also proved a branding pioneer, using early collabs with brands such as Helly-Hansen to build buzz for his own Wu-Wear clothing line. A true multi-hyphenate, he even helped bring hip-hop into film, composing scores, acting and hopping into the director’s chair upon occasion.
Mona Scott-Young
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Scott-Young got her start managing the production team the Trackmasters, who introduced the young exec to Chris Lighty. Together, they co-founded the mighty management vehicle Violator and made history guiding the careers of some of hiphop’s hottest stars, including 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott. Next finding her footing in TV, Scott-Young and her production company Monami Entertainment hit the jackpot with a Jim Jones-helmed show called “Love & Hip Hop” that would see a slew of spinoffs inject new interest in maturing acts and launch colossal careers, including Cardi B’s. Let’s not forget to raise a glass of MYX Fusions to Scott-Young (who co-owns the Moscato brand with Nicki Minaj) for her work as a novelist and philanthropist as well.
Below, Busta Rhymes pays tribute to his longtime manager:
Outside of my mother, I don’t know if another woman has been as close to helping me grow as a man, an executive, and a human being outside Mona Scott-Young.
She was the manager of my life, both personally and professionally. And as a manager, that responsibility comes with being available for you as much as you are available for your child or husband.
It doesn’t matter what day or time it is. If there’s a crisis, they have to answer the phone. They have to troubleshoot. They have to find a solution.
Sometimes they cry with you because they are so involved. They have a deep-rooted emotional connection that surpasses business.
I don’t know what I would be without Mona.
My mother loves Mona. Mona loves my mother. I love Mona’s mother.
Times I had to go to court for shit I was troubled for, and Mona’s mom would pray for me and with me. She would make the congregation of her followers in her faith pray for me. Mona’s mom is a profound Christian leader in Haiti; she would have all her people pray for me from all the way over there. Put the right blessed energy into the universe to protect me from whatever negativity could come my way when I was going through these troubles and challenges.
Mona is someone that I love beyond description.
One of the greatest nurturers.
One of the greatest protectors.
One of the greatest mothers.
One of the greatest friends.
One of the greatest executives in music and outside of music.
We should all bow down and kiss her ring as one of the greatest to ever do it, not only as a manager but as a multifaceted trailblazer when it comes to being a success story and when it comes to being an executive of all executives.
She’s the only person that has had such an impact on my life as a manager, and as a friend who has been a source of inspiration to me with how much she has shown me, she loves me through my good and bad.
I’d do absolutely anything for Mona. I love Mona Scott-Young, and I’ll love Mona Scott-Young forever.
Violator for life!
Tommy Silverman
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When it comes to the hip-hop record business, it doesn’t get much more foundational than Silverman and his Tommy Boy Records: Launched in 1981, the label released such pioneering music as Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock,” De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising,” and albums by Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, House of Pain, Coolio and Digital Underground. Originally the publisher of the DJ tip sheet Dance Music Report, Silverman knew what the dance floors wanted, and he delivered. While his company had the great misfortune to be a guinea pig for sampling copyright laws — which kept De La Soul’s pioneering albums out of the market for many years — the situation was resolved when its catalog was purchased by Reservoir Media for $100 million in 2021.
Russell Simmons
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Simmons was a key architect of the hip-hop business and culture, and while his accomplishments have been tarnished by multiple accusations of sexual assault, his impact on the genre is undeniable and enduring. The brother of rapper Rev Run — aka the “Run” in Run-DMC — he founded Rush Management and co-founded Def Jam Records, playing a huge role in the careers of Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. When he sold Def Jam to the company that is now Universal in 1996, it helped bring hip-hop to mainstream America with such artists as Jay-Z and Kanye West, and his Phat Farm clothing lines (which he sold in 2004 for a then-astronomical $140 million) did the same with their fashion. He also co-produced the pivotal 1984 hip-hop film “Krush Groove” and, later, “The Nutty Professor,” and created the HBO series “Def Comedy Jam” and “Def Poetry Jam.” It is no accident that he received more votes for this list than anyone else.
Shakir Stewart (1974-2008)
Photo : Uli Knörzer for Variety
A veteran label and publishing executive, Shakir Stewart was a native of Oakland, Calif. But he made his name in Atlanta, where he threw parties and concerts while attending Morehouse College. He later flipped those profits to purchase a recording studio when he and a group of friends launched music publishing company Noontime.
“He was a real ally,” his former business partner Chris Hicks tells Variety. “We had a healthy competition, but we were also there for each other.”
Known for his magnetic personality, sense of humor and work ethic, “Shake” was recruited by LaFace Records co-founder L.A. Reid initially to work at Hitco Publishing. He soon signed Beyoncé to her first publishing deal as well as Philly rapper Beanie Sigel. He rose through the ranks at Hitco and in 2000, Reid made Stewart an A&R consultant at LaFace, where he would sign Ciara. But his career really took off when he followed Reid to Def Jam Records, where he played a huge role int he rise of Southern hip-hop by signing rappers Young Jeezy and Rick Ross, both of whom would go on to record multiplatinum albums for the label.
“The South wasn’t really known for dominating the music space at the time,” says Asylum Records/Atlantic Records exec VP of A&R Dallas Martin, Stewart’s former intern and protégé. “I think him signing artists like Jeezy and Ross made everybody realize the South was taking over in the music world. He was at the forefront of believing those artists could be platinum.”
Jeezy recalls meeting Stewart in an Atlanta nightclub in 2003, although he didn’t realize he was a top A&R executive at the time. By the time he did, He’d released a pair of hot mixtapes and was being pursued by four labels, but signing with Def Jam took him to another level. “I really had my mind made up on Shakir Stewart,” Jeezy says. “He was a confidante, a friend, and he was out here on the front line with me. Any project I ever do, I still give Shakir an executive producer credit. He didn’t seem like an executive — he seemed like your brother.”
Stewart was named an executive VP at Def Jam Recordings in June 2008, only four months before he died, apparently by his own hand, at the age of 34.
“He had as much talent as me — he just didn’t get the opportunity to make it this far with us,” says Sony Music Publishing chairman-CEO Jon Platt. “The people who have the opportunity to make the most impact are the people who really live the culture — and Shake really lived the culture.”
Steve Stoute
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From Run-DMC’s Adidas to N.W.A’s Raiders hats, rappers have always served as unofficial brand ambassadors. While a number of entrepreneurs have launched their own products, Stoute took a different route. Noticing hip-hop’s exponential, continuing growth, the former label executive (Interscope) and talent manager (Nas) started Translation, an advertising firm aimed at, well, translating hip-hop’s cool to corporate America. He became rap’s David Ogilvy after tapping Justin Timberlake and the Neptunes to turn a McDonald’s jingle into a full-fledged hit — and that was just the beginning. Translation has become one of the biggest agencies in the business, and Stoute a symbol of how to bring hip-hop into the mainstream.
Top Dawg
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The co-founder of Top Dawg Entertainment, CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith has played a key role in the rise of two of the most influential artists of the past 10 years — Kendrick Lamar and SZA — along with Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock. He and longtime business partner Terrence “Punch” Henderson co-founded TDE in 2004 and signed Lamar shortly after. A partnership with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records soon followed, and the company grew as Lamar vaulted into the mainstream with 2012’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” album; SZA’s career launched just four years later. On a wider platform, TDE and Tiffith have been avid advocates for community building and anti-censorship practices.
Bryan Turner
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For Turner, the notoriety surrounding N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police” wasn’t a marketing problem: It was the marketing. The co-founder of Los Angeles-based Priority Records couldn’t compete with majors’ resources as an independent in the late ’80s music business, so he bypassed radio and other traditional promotional avenues to break records directly on the streets. The Canadian American veteran executive built on regional movements as a stepping stone to global success, turning West Coast legend Eazy-E from local hero to superstar; as a distributor, he applied that same philosophy to other regional labels including New Orleans’ No Limit, Houston’s Rap-A-Lot, and Brooklyn’s Roc-A-Fella — enshrining a countrywide consortium of influential hip-hop imprints that would prove a national business powerhouse.
Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Slim Williams
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Two brothers with three nicknames, Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan Williams — aka Birdman and Baby — founded Cash Money Records in their native New Orleans in 1992, traveling across Louisiana in search of flourishing talent. In 1995, the pair discovered a 12-year-old Lil Wayne and a 14-yearold Christopher Dorsey, who respectively became known as “Baby D” and “Lil Doogie.” Renaming themselves Lil Wayne & B.G., the duo in 1997 joined forces with rappers Juvenile and Turk to form the Hot Boys. That group’s success catapulted Cash Money Records into a $30 million deal with Universal and led directly to Wayne’s multi-platinum solo success, particularly his series of “Tha Carter” albums, which kicked off in 2004. Almost a decade later, Birdman debuted Rich Gang, bringing together a supergroup that would later jump-start the careers of two of Atlanta’s most influential superstars, Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan.
