A YOUNG MERCENARY HUSTLER
Posted by bigced on February 25, 2008
by: Rahiem Shabazz
Few A&R’s embody real hip-hop the way Sickamore does. A staple on the mixtape circuit before he was out of High School, the name Sickamore became synonymous with “I Can Make You Famous,” which became the trademarked name of his company. It wasn’t long thereafter that the higher echelon at corporate labels noticed his remarkable record of taking relatively unknown artist and turning them into household names.
Street Masters Magazine sat down with the mercenary hustler to find out why Atlanta Records took the initiative to hire him as Director of A&R, what future projects he is working on and how he made the transition from mixtape DJ to the youngest A&R in the game. Take me back to your humble beginning and how it all began for you?
I started when I was fifteen years old doing custom CD’s for people in school. They’ll give me a list and I would make the CD’s for them. Someone suggested that I should put them in the stores. In 2001, I put 25 in a book bag and went to Canal Street in lower Manhattan to and to Brooklyn to a spot called On The Low.. The name of the CD was called Anthrax On Wax. They called me back the next day and said, “this CD is hot we want a hundred CD’S. Back in 01, the CD burner use to burn 1 every 20 minutes and I only had one little computer. Burning 3 every hour, you can imagine how long it took to burn 100 spindles of CD’s. But, I got it to them and I was in business from there.
How did you make the transition from Mixtape DJ to an A&R?
When I would drop off CD’s at Beat Street in Downtown Brooklyn, the manager Gary would always pick my brain and ask me for advice. One day, he asked me to become the A&R for his up and coming label. He paid me $600 a week and gave me a little office and things changed from there. Then Snoop Dog heard about me and flew me out to L.A. I started doing CD’s with him and when I got to New York everybody wanted me to host their CD. Then I started learning about getting sponsorship money. I took that money and went on the Roc The Mic Tour, which is where I met Just Blaze. I use to email Just Blaze over and over telling him, “Kanye is kicking your ass you got to get focus, and you got to get a artist. He said, “find me an artist and then we will talk.” I told him, “if I find you an artist you got to make me A&R.” A month later I found Saigon and nine months later he signed him to Atlantic Records. Then Atlantic Senior Vice President of Urban A&R, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua walked me into the President of Atlantic Records (Craig Kallman) who offered me the job.
Tell me about your company, “I Can Make You Famous” and the clients you represent?
“I Can Make You Famous” is an artist development firm where I manage and develop new talent. Saigon, Tru Life and Wynter Gordon are just a couple of the artist I signed. Tru Life was my first official client and we started a bidding war with him and he eventually got signed to Roc La Familia Records.
What are some of the projects you are overseeing at Atlantic Records? Grand Hustle (T.I.), Affiliates Music Group (DJ Drama), Choppa City (B.G.), 1st & 15th (Lupe Fiasco), and the soundtrack to HBO’s Entourage. I also work closely with Asylum/Warner Bros. What you see in the difference between the music scene in New York and Atlanta?
In New York you’re either or you’re not. If you are not Jay-Z or Steve Stoute, you are done. It’s the haves and the have not. In Atlanta everybody is more in between. Jermaine Dupri is not so big he can’t eat or party at the same party. In New York you go to the club you’re treated like a peon, you cannot have no hats, no sneakers etc. They do everything so you can’t come in. In Atlanta, the most popular club is still street. So if you are Ludacris or T.I you still got to come see me. In New York, I got to go see Giorgio Armani and then that’s how I know I’m popping. It’s bougie out. In Atlanta the scene is hungry. If I go to Glady’s Knight Chicken & Waffles, I might bump into anybody. I go to the studio everyone is working together and everyone is vibing with each other. It is so many hungry people down here its like a black metropolis.
