Maybach Music Group- Forming the Empire

At this point in his career, William Leonard Roberts II, better known as Rick Ross, can easily claim that he has a good number of fans. He’s had multiple gold selling albums, a well publicized feud with the king of feuds, 50 Cent, and he’s just recently taken his label, Maybach Music Group to Warner Bros. Records. He’s done quite a bit in the 5 short years since he burst onto the scene with the hit “Everyday I’m Hustlin”. It’s something that he’s tried to live up to and keep at the forefront of his music. Adopting the persona of a big Miami kingpin, Rick Ross constantly wins, constantly succeeds, and there is no stopping him. If the music is to be believed. 

If you look at his track record, you can see that he definitely has reasons to make such statements. Now, he’s attempted to top everything he’s done in the past, with the move to Warner Bros.

For a while, it seemed as though Maybach Music Group wasn’t going to be a force in the industry. The power of the Triple C’s group wasn’t felt too well. After all, the debut record of the group, Custom Cars & Cycles did not do the numbers that everyone at the label thought and hoped that it would. It wasn’t obvious what the problem, but Ross knew that something had to be done. So he took a little bit to concentrate on his next solo album, what would become Teflon Don.

After the release and promotion of an album that was almost flawless, Rick Ross has turned his attention back to his label. He’s signed a slew of new people. One of his best additions so far has been the D.C. rapper, Wale. Wale’s already had an album out and has had a few mild hits on the mainstream. His mixtapes though have given him acclaim, and a recent feature on Waka Flocka’s No Hands has done nothing but help. Wale gives Rick Ross his more introspective and conscious rapper on the label. I’m not saying that Ross is trying to follow a formula, because a formulaic label, like a formulaic album, well, it isn’t played out, it’s just plain dumb to do at this point. In this day and age of artists wearing multiple fitteds of rapper, producer, CEO, marketer, Wale’s going to represent more than just a one topic artist for Ross. He’s going to complement another of the artists on the label very well, namely Pill.

Pill, a rapper from Atlanta, has been on the grind for a few years now. He’s been in the Source in the Unsigned Hype section, as well as XXL, first as part of the Show and Prove section and later as one of their Freshmen for 2010. He brings the streets to MMG, something that the label already has an abundance of in the form of Rick Ross and the rest of the Triple Cs. His 1140: The Overdose mixtape was damn good, to say the least. Which brings us to Meek Mill, who rounds out the group. If you don’t already know who he is, you should probably work on that, and that’s real talk. He’s got songs and he’s been repping Philadelphia heavy. He brings yet another flavor to Maybach Music Group.

For the label, which before this was restricted to South Florida for it’s sound, these signees are diversifying the label very well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ross looks to the West coast next. With the MMG compilation album Self Made announcement, Rick Ross is preparing to strike while the fire’s hot and not hold anything back. This album is going to be important to cement the new MMG and the choices musically on this compilation album are going to be critical. Every last track, every producer, every feature, every song theme.

All are crucial, because of how the first Triple C’s album did. I'm hoping that Wale's relationship with Mark Ronson stays strong and that they can bring him in to work on the album. They also need to get a track with Ryan Leslie, and definitely need to keep the working relationship that Rick Ross has with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League strong. One of the weaknesses from the Triple C's Album was the production. Despite some top notch names, the beats seemed mailed in, as if Ross took the good ones from the beat CDs for himself, and let the rest be used on that album. Speaking of which, one wonder’s what’s going to happen to the Triple C’s group itself. Torch, Gunplay, and Young Breed.

One thing is for sure though. Rick Ross is starting to make sure that the “untouchable” tagline that he puts in all of the Maybach Music Group’s videos is truly deserved.

The Future of G-Unit Records Pt 1

By now, everyone, including supposedly impervious to criticism and negative thoughts 50 Cent, has to realize that G-Unit Records is in trouble. It's been a long time since the label has put out an album that has sold well, even considering the climate of sales and the overall slack of sales of music since 2006. Furthermore, the label itself isn't signing new talent to bring a resurgence to the label or to generate and drive more interest in the label. You add in beefs with other, lesser or equal high profile MCs that G-Unit isn't clearly winning and you can begin to understand why the pressure is on. But will they crack? Or better yet, have they already cracked and now we're just watching the spiral downwards?

A lot of the burden to succeed for the label and for the group falls on the leader, 50 Cent. Honestly speaking, with the exception of a couple mixtapes here and there, what has Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo done in a while? Yayo's been sitting, just being 50's hypeman at concerts and only recently has there been talk of him getting back into the swing of things, with his new release, the Gunpowder Guru. Banks is another thing. He's been grinding on the mixtape scene, putting out multiple official mixtapes that have been keeping his name going, but the question is whether or not he's going to become a mixtape rapper permanently. That new Beamer Benz or Bentley joint of his is doing nicely and the video is good too. It's a good look, and I think he has the chance to break back into the game.

Mobb Deep are gone. M.O.P. are gone. Buck is gone too. Who's left on the label that you can name off the top of your head? Spider Loc has been signed since 2005 and has yet to put out a solo album. Hot Rod is another who's been on the label for a long time, 2006, and hasn't released anything significant, with the exception of a couple mixtapes, and a somewhat promising single that had Dr. Dre production that had to have been meant for a different artist.

T.O.S. was supposed to restart the reign of G-Unit and G-Unit Records. Before I Self Destruct was supposed to cement that return and line up the next series of solo albums for people on the label, or the first series for some. But those things have yet to materialize, really.

Over time, if you look at what Fifty's done with what has been given to him, he's a pretty damn good business man. I have faith in him that he can come up with a new strategy to take over the industry once more.

Moving Bad Boy to Interscope

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I don't understand it. No wait, I do. I take that back. I can completely see why Jimmy Iovine said yes to this. Think about it. What act from Bad Boy in the past couple years has really worked and has had staying power? Don't worry, I'll wait. There's Danity Kane, but they've broken up and they're history at this point. There's Red Cafe. Now, he makes good music, but I still don't know when that debut album is coming out. Furthermore, I haven't seen any "official" mixtapes from him in a minute. The only other people are the LOX. With the exception of Jada's last album which is a tribute to Jada, the LOX don't really sell records. We Are the Streets did good, but that was back in 2000. No Security back in June sold how much? Exactly. You have Day26 who…don't make me laugh.

I watched one show of the second season of their Making the Band. Their hats alone made me want to change the channel. That was before I heard what they were saying. Then I did change the channel. But okay, Day26 has sold a decent amount of records in the post 2006 sales world, so I'll put them on the list of who Bad Boy has.

Which brings us to Diddy.

Diddy sells records. If you don't believe me, look at Press Play. That album went past Gold in 2006. If he came correct and did the auto tune right and had the Lady Gaga like danceability of the tracks, and lets be honest, Diddy is about dancing and partying, he could do it again if not maybe go past Platinum. So Bad Boy has Diddy. But why would Jimmy Iovine sign over all of Bad Boy for Day26 and for Diddy? That doesn't exactly make sense. Which brings you to the thought about Diddy's way of breaking new talent.

Look at Danity Kane. Look at Day26. Diddy takes the "On to the Next One" approach. He had Danity Kane but then he got bored and MTV wanted another season, so he made Day26. Diddy creates groups and artists and then releases them with one or two singles coming from the album. It makes its money and then Diddy moves onto the next one. In this way, he makes sure that he makes his money and that the label makes its money. All he's done here is swapped out Atlantic Records for Interscope Records as the parent label that he needs to pay. Obviously we don't know the cash flow situation, but I can only assume because he made the switch, Interscope is giving Diddy more capital with which he can broaden the scope of his artists' return.

I don't see Bad Boy changing the idea behind its line up anytime soon. Pop groups and R&B. Where are the real spitters? This is the label that arguably the greatest rapper of all time was a part of. Where are the rappers?

Or did reminiscing about the shiny suit era make Diddy want to try to bring it back, but in the wrong way?

Jimmy Iovine knew that Interscope would make its money back from the pop route and said fine, let's do the deal. But it’s the actual fans of the old Bad Boy who suffer the most. I'm getting ready to catch the Last Train outta this bitch then.