{"id":488337,"date":"2019-07-24T06:25:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T12:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=862692"},"modified":"2019-07-24T06:25:15","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T12:25:15","slug":"the-time-is-now-jay-z-and-meek-mill-unveil-new-roc-nation-record-label","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/the-time-is-now-jay-z-and-meek-mill-unveil-new-roc-nation-record-label\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Time Is Now\u2019: Jay-Z and Meek Mill Unveil New Roc Nation Record Label"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the year since his release from prison, Meek Mill<\/a> has dug his heels in on matters including criminal justice reform<\/a>, documentaries<\/a>, and licensed sports products<\/a> alongside releasing a studio album<\/a>. On Tuesday afternoon, the Philadelphia rapper clinked glasses of Armand de Brignac champagne with Jay-Z<\/a> to solidify a new business venture: a full-fledged record label designed to find and develop new musical talent.<\/p>\n

Meek (real name Robert Rihmeek Williams) arrived at the Manhattan office of Jay\u2019s Roc Nation<\/a> entertainment company to ink the deal, which puts him in charge of a Roc-backed record label called Dream Chasers Records. The label will work on on talent acquisition, creative strategy and marketing, among other operations. Meek Mill had previously established Dream Chasers Records as a label imprint in 2012, then under the umbrella of Rick Ross\u2019s Maybach Music Group; the name was taken from his well-received mixtape series Dreamchasers<\/em> and that label signed a small number of up-and-coming artists such as YBS Skola and Lil Snupe. At the time, it operated mostly as an add-on to Meek\u2019s personal music pursuits.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Rolling Stone,<\/em> the rapper says that the \u201cextra seven years\u201d since the original venture have given him a fresh perspective and a time to \u201cgrow in business, period.\u201d \u201cI think the time is now,\u201d Meek says. \u201cI\u2019m 32 years old, I\u2019m in a nice spot in the music business and I think it\u2019s time for me to focus on growing artists because that\u2019s what I love to do. I love to spend time on helping artists grow, and I think it\u2019s time for me to dive in, business-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

As president of the Dream Chasers label under the Roc Nation brand, Meek will oversee a team in a corporate New York office and also help operate a recording studio for the label\u2019s artists. While the rapper noted that the label is \u201cstill in the beginning stage\u201d and did not reveal specific signees, he hinted at forthcoming announcements later this year. Formal conversations with Roc Nation took place over the last few months, he said, but his partnership with Jay-Z \u2014 \u201cthe snowplow that made it easier for me to walk through snowstorms,\u201d with regard to the influence of hip-hop in the broader culture \u2014 has been years in the making.<\/p>\n

Jay-Z reiterated the strength of their relationship and added that Meek\u2019s upbringing and career experience, which are not dissimilar to his own, have illustrated how hip-hop artists \u201ccan carry this weight for the next generation.\u201d \u201cWe come from the same neighborhoods, we are the few who made it through,\u201d he said to press at the signing. \u201cThat responsibility is not lost on us. We have not made it to this point to just irresponsibly live our life. It\u2019s a responsibility we have to the entire culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe overall and overarching view is for us to boss up and do things together and pull each other up and get control of the things that we produce.\u201d \u2014 Jay-Z on Meek Mill\u2019s new record label at Roc Nation<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Asked about the vision for Dream Chaser Records, Jay-Z emphasized Meek\u2019s broad ambition and the limitless potential of the partnership. \u201cHip-hop is not just music \u2014 it\u2019s music, it\u2019s art, it\u2019s fashion \u2014 so that can be applied to any silo of business,\u201d Jay-Z tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201c[Music is] just one aspect of it. That\u2019s the pipe. The overall and overarching view is for us to boss up and do things together and pull each other up and get control of the things that we produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay says he views the \u201cbiggest disconnect\u201d in hip-hop\u2019s 40-year history as the gulf between created work and compensation offered for it. He added that Roc Nation \u201cchanged that as a company, and we hope to change that as an industry as well.\u201d Partnerships such as the one with Meek \u201cstrengthen him, and strengthen Roc Nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The entertainment company has added artists to its roster this year such as Jay\u2019s longtime friend\/foe\/mentor Jaz-O, who joins the ranks of Rihanna, J. Cole, Vic Mensa, Belly, and more. Just this week, Roc Nation also named two new co-presidents in industry veterans Shari Bryant and Omar Grant, following the departure of several senior executives, including its label president and senior vice president of A&R earlier this year.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the year since his release from prison, Meek Mill has dug his heels in on matters including criminal justice reform, documentaries, and licensed sports products alongside releasing a studio album. On Tuesday afternoon, the Philadelphia rapper clinked glasses of Armand de Brignac champagne with Jay-Z to solidify a new business venture: a full-fledged record label […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-488337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 03:52:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}