Uptown Records

See, you gotta understand something.

Back in the 80s, you had R&B, you had the coming to, we was coming into the era of, you had Uptown Records.

He had a dance record company.

And Joey Simmons was signed to an independent dance label.

Biggie had been growing sick of Diddy in the years leading up to his death.

He left Uptown with Diddy to go to Bad Boy Records but felt like Diddy was screwing him over financially and even had plans to leave Bad Boy.

After Tupac's death, the East Coast crew was warned not to set foot on the West Coast, and yet Diddy pressed on.

He was looking out for his own wallet, not for the well-being of his supposed friend.

You're telling me that they didn't have anyone that was more experienced to fill in when a producer didn't show up? Like, I get that time is money and they needed to get the record done, but it's odd to me that they just allowed Diddy, an intern, to produce the record.

He was literally just a baby, 19, 20 years old.

Andre said he fired Diddy from Uptown because the politics of it, and he knew that he could thrive on his own.

But he also allowed Biggie, who wasn't that big yet, but everyone could tell was going to be big, to leave and go with Diddy.

The other guys are kids.

Ozzy Cadena recorded the material at this Piccadilly Club, and recently the people at Uptown Records released it.

They called it Hank Mobley.

They used his name, I guess, as the marketing name.

Although he left Howard before graduating, the skills he developed there, networking, branding, and creating cultural moments, would later define his career.

After leaving Howard, he secured an internship at Uptown Records, where he quickly proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with.

Diddy's ability to identify talent and his knack for innovation led to his promotion to talent director, a position that allowed him to work with emerging artists like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci.

In 1993, after being dismissed from Uptown Records, Diddy founded Bad Boy Entertainment, a record label that would come to symbolize the golden era of hip-hop.

Bad Boy's roster included some of the most iconic names in music, such as the Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, and Mase.

The label dominated the charts throughout the 90s, with Diddy himself stepping into the spotlight as a performer and producer.

For anybody who doesn't know Eddie F., Eddie F. is Multi-platinum producer.

Uh, y- you most likely think of him as the, as, as Ev- Eddie F down with Heavy D, the whole Uptown Records thing.

Um, he was ahead of the curve putting together, uh, you know, all of the writers and producers in, in, in the mid-'90s and the 2000s with The Untouchables.

How the hell does a kid from Chicago even connect with somebody like Eddie F who's been doing it since the '80s?

And then you had

Uptown Records.

We're going to get it to all of them.

We got a long story.

You got DJ QB, you got Sean, you got a couple of people saying they got shitted out of their royalties, but Molly Moll, like, yo, that was Warner Brothers.

That wasn't me.

When you sign a contract, you with the independent, but Warner Brothers cut the checks, and you had Uptown Records, a part of that, Andre Harrell was doing the management, and you had Uptown, and you had Warner Brothers.

So you had Uptown doing management, and then you had...

Mm-hmm.

Jeff Redd was already signed to Uptown Records.

Remember, "You called and told me that you..."

Oh, yeah.

That's Jeff Redd.

Okay.

So he was a artist that was already signed to Uptown Records-

Mm

in that performance

he absolutely did and so when you fast forward to that was 1991. when we fast forward to 1993 in this moment wow uptown records wow it has such a stronghold and has really, um, re recreate, not recreated, but has, um, re-imagined what R and B is and really what could it, it could be for the future because they've at that moment, uptown records, uh, launched the careers of some people that really changed the face of R&B and what R&B sounded like and what R&B looked like.

And so when we talk about the Uptown MTV Unplugged, you're talking about a marriage made in heaven.

Yeah.