 | This articlemay have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia'sterms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia'scontent policies, particularlyneutral point of view.(August 2021) |
| Block Starz Music | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 2008 (2008) |
| Founder | Bayer Mack Kai Denninger |
| Distributor(s) | Select-O-Hits |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Louisville, Kentucky Sarasota, Florida |
| Official website | blockstarztv |
Block Starz Music is an Americanindependent record label owned and operated byBayer Mack. Its catalog includes independent releases byMachine Gun Kelly,Lega-C,Wiz Khalifa,Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes,Big Sean,Rhymefest, and Ceddy Bu Rap Sumo.[1] The label also includes its subsidiaries such as theindependent film and televisionproduction company Block Starz Music Television.[2]
Block Starz Music's first official mixtape,Suburban Empire by ex-VH1 reality show starJohn Brown, was released in early 2009. An alumnus of Ego Trip'sThe White Rapper Show,XXL Magazine put Brown "in the same category asWeird 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 new artists and guest appearances bySnoop Dogg,E-40,Keak da Sneak, andDaz Dillinger.[4][5]
In the summer of 2009, Block Starz partnered with Atlanta-based D-Lo Entertainment to releaseCertified, the debut mixtape from futureLove & Hip Hop: Atlanta cast memberRasheeda.[6][7] The company would go on to have more success with the mixtape releaseWhat's High? by a nineteen-year-old Jewish rapper from Youngstown, OH named Throwback,[8] 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 onEast Coast Block Starz in the fall of 2009.[9] 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,[10] though critics noted it had a decidedly more commercial slant than its predecessor.[11] In addition to "Was It", which benefited from the growing popularity of Wiz Khalifa, Boston native Supastar LT's collaboration, "I Love My City", withKardinal Offishall andRed Cafe also became a popular-selling download from the project.
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[12] and later with the 3rd Annual South Carolina Music Awards held on July 10, 2010.[13] It was also during this time that the label came across a young, unsigned Cleveland, Ohio artist namedMachine 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 upcomingMidwest Block Starz compilation.
On March 5, 2010, Block Starz announced thatGrammy Award winnerRhymefest had signed on to theMidwest Block Starz project,[14] which by then already featured appearances by rappersTwista,Shawnna, and newcomerBig Sean.[15] Released on May 26, the compilation spawned a minor hit with Rhymefest's radio-friendly "Say Wassup" featuring Phonte ofLittle 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.[16]
Block Starz Music signed Topeka, Kansas rapper Mike Schpitz after his appearance onMidwest Block Starz and released his 11-track EP debut,Stanley Ipkiss: Year of the Nice Guy on August 3, 2010.[17] Inspired byJim Carrey's character from the 1994 box office smashThe Mask, critical response to project was mixed,[18] but the EP debuted inAmazon.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.[19]
In April 2011, it was widely reported thatJay-Z had outbid executives atUniversal Records andJive Records to acquire Block Starz Music.[20][21][22]
On September 1, 2011, the label announced the signing of Tulsa, Oklahoma rapper/singer/producerLega-C,[23] whose viral YouTube video, "White Girl Raps Fast", would go on to generate millions of views at various popular music and entertainment websites online.[24][25][26] 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 likeJay-Z,Lil Wayne,Drake,Kanye West, and two original songs.[27][28] 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.[29]
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 debutOff My Medication.[30][31]
On February 9, 2012, Block Starz signed 16-year-old Auburn, New York rapper andFloyd Mayweather Jr. protégé Cameron Sanders, aka Young Siege, and announced plans to feature him onEast Coast Block Starz 2.[32] On February 22, 2012, the label signed Bootleg of Flint, Michigan rap groupThe Dayton Family and unveiled the rapper's previously unreleased collaboration withLisa "Left Eye" Lopes ofTLC 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.[33][34][35][36][37][38]
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.[39]
Lega-C's debut album on Block Starz Music, titledOff My Medication, was released October 31, 2012.[40] The first music video fromOff My Medication, "That Bitch", debuted online October 22 as a street release to the official radio single, "Speaking Sublimely", which featuresWrekonize ofStrange Music's acclaimed rap/rock band¡Mayday!.[41][42] 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 90s but definitely 2012. Hard beats and a sleek, clean lyrical flow."[43][44][45] One day after the digital release ofOff My Medication, it was announced that a CD version of the album would be distributed nationally bySelect-O-Hits.[46][47]
In 2014, the label introducedAfro-Belgian rapper Darrell Cole and released the rapper's North American debut,"Swahili", the following year. On the song, Cole, who was born in London, England and raised in Sierra Leone, raps about the dual stigmatization Africans face in Europe and their homeland. In 2016, it was announced Darrell Cole had signed withSony Music.[48][49]
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 andWaffle 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 toBillboard, 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]
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 LLC is an American independent film and television company based inSarasota, Florida. The studio is best known for its documentary filmThe Czar of Black Hollywood,[57] as well as its leadership in developing and distributing online video and original web programming, like the documentary seriesProfiles of African-American Success. Block Starz Music Television was founded by independent record executive and filmmaker Bayer L. Mack as The BlockStarz.Tv Network in 2013 and organized as Block Starz Music Television LLC in 2014.
In February 2013, after arranging for Block Starz Music artist Ceddy Bu Da Rap Sumo to appear on theTruTV comedy seriesUpload withShaquille O'Neal,[58] the label announced the formation of the spinoff company The BlockStarz.Tv Network to produce an original web series around Ceddy Bu and other recording artists on the label's roster.[59] 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.[60][61]
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 pictureBaby Mama starringTina Fey andAmy Poehler, and his struggles to launch a rap career.[62][63][64]
The Czar of Black Hollywood is a 2014 documentary film chronicling the early life and career of African-American filmmakerOscar Micheaux (1884–1951). Block Starz Music founder Bayer L. Mack conceived, wrote and produced the film about Micheaux usingLibrary of Congress archived footage, photos, illustrations and vintage music. An eight-minute trailer premiered online March 31, 2014.[65]
The documentary is narrated by William Bell, features an original score by Nicholas Jones and art direction by Julie Anderson.[66]
On February 13,The Czar of Black Hollywood was announced by American radio hostTom Joyner on his nationally syndicated program,The Tom Joyner Morning Show, as part of its "Little Known Black History Fact" on Oscar Micheaux.[67]
In an April 2014 interview withThe Washington Times, Block Starz Music founder Bayer L. Mack said that he read the 2007 biographyOscar Micheaux: The Great and Only byPatrick McGilligan and was inspired to produceThe Czar of Black Hollywood because Micheaux's life mirrored his own.[68][69] In a June 2014 interview withThe Huffington Post, Mack said he was shocked there "was virtually nothing out there about Micheaux's life" in spite of his historical significance.[70]
The film's executive producer, Frances Presley Rice, told theSun Sentinel that Micheaux was the first "indie movie producer."[71]
Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood had its official premiere on September 27, 2014, at the 99th AnnualAssociation for the Study of African American Life and History Convention in Memphis, TN[72] and received a Best Independent Documentary nomination from The Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) at the 2015Black Reel Awards.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)