Although Oakland-based collective Hieroglyphics may not drop as much new music as their fans would like — Del The Funkee Homosapien’s 11th Hour, his 1st new album in close to 7 years, is due out later this year — they continue to make moves to keep their name relevant. Earlier this year, they announced the creation of a clothing line, which is only fitting considering that the “third eye” symbol (created by Del) that has become synonymous with the crew’s work is one of the most recognizable logos in hip hop. And just recently, they announced the formation of the Hiero Imperium Triple i League, a new record label which the crew likens to a “Major League Baseball farm team.” From their press release:
In an industry where it’s common to see undiscovered talent get signed under a major label artist’s label only to get trapped in a financially parasitic situation, Hiero CEO Tajai Massey [of Souls of Mischief] makes it clear that this program is nothing like the typical industry contracts that exploit up-and-coming artists. Instead, the program is about taking artists who already have a complete package and mentoring them on the business side of the industry so that they can be capable of controlling their own careers and become the CEOs of tomorrow.
(Somewhere in Martha’s Vineyard, Puff Daddy is pissed.)
It certainly seems like a logical idea. The NBA, the last of the U.S.’s major professional sports leagues to establish an official “minor” league, is benefitting pretty well from the recently-created NBDL (National Basketball Development League) and the age limit that prevents players from making the straight-from-high-school leap to the pros. Case in point, we haven’t seen another Kwame Brown lately, and hopefully won’t again anytime soon (it’s bad enough that we have one already, and worse more that he’s a Laker). If systems like this were more prevalent in hip hop, we’d probably have fewer one-hit wonders who owe their records labels money and/or albums. Of course, probably not many rappers would want to accept the fact that they too could be victims of the music industry, and choose to turn down the quick rise to fame in exchange for a tutorial in learning the ropes of the music biz. [However, if you were to ask G-Dep, the former Bad Boy artist who spent a month in Rikers in ’07 when he couldn’t come up with $750 bail, what choices he’d have made differently if he could start from scratch, he’d probably put together a long list.]
The first Triple i League signee is a Bay Area MC named Knobody, whom Hiero member Casual compares to Eminem as far as his ability to “consistently flow on the same subject throughout a song without having to switch up.” In order words, he’s similar to Eminem in a good way. Knobody’s debut album, Tha Clean Up, is set to drop on September 18th, and his 1st single, “What U Think”, can be heard on his MySpace page, in addition to a few other tracks. If you’re already a fan of Hiero’s music, Knobody should be easy to adapt to.
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