Storied A&R for the now-defunct Jive Records Jeff Sledge recently caught up with Karmaloop TV to talk about his lengthy career in Hip Hop and some of the artists he’s worked with during his 22 year career. Sledge spoke on his start in ’89 at Wild Pitch Records and how touring with Gang Starr eventually led him to his second job at Chrysalis Records.
“The artists that I worked with at that point [while at Wild Pitch] were Gang Starr, Chill Rob G, Main Source, Lord Finesse,” he explained. “Gang Starr left and went to a label called Chrysalis Records, which was a rock that kinda decided to stick its foot in the rap game not because they like it but because it was making paper…Gang Starr and I were really close because we did so much traveling on the road together, and so when they let, they wanted me to go with them.”
Sledge also spoke of his lengthy career as an A&R at the legendary imprint Jive. He explained that what set him apart from other A&Rs at the time was his willingness to learn about the different types of Hip Hop from across the States, which helped give the label such a diverse line-up of artists.
“I did promotions when I first started out…and the difference between me and most of the A&R cats and the promotions cats at the time was that…I always had a real interest in radio,” he explained. “When I would talk to [DJs] while doing promotions, I would always be asking them, ‘What’s going on in your market? Tell me what’s the hottest record is in Cleveland. What’s the dopest shit in Dallas?’ I was always really interested in that. I always had a keen ear for that…so when I switched into A&R [at Jive Records], the thing about Jive is that Jive was different than a label like Def Jam is that most of our artists weren’t from New York. We had Too $hort, who’s form Oakland, we had [E-40], who’s from Oakland, UGK, who’s from the Houston area…I was always able to look at and hear and see these trends [from different areas] because I was always in those cities. I knew about DJ Screw and all that stuff from Pimp C and Bun [B] way before it burst onto the scene with Paul Wall and stuff.”
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Check out the full interview below.
