Tommy Boy Entertainment
Tommy Boy Entertainment (formerly Tommy Boy Records ) is an American music label that is mainly engaged in hip-hop and electronica music . The label was founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman, after which it is named.
history
Silverman had published Disco News magazine since 1978 and then founded the label as a side project with a loan from his parents. In 1985, Warner Bros. Records took a 50% stake in Tommy Boy. In 1990 the label was completely taken over. Silverman became a vice president at Warner. Warner allows Tommy Boy to choose independent channels in addition to his own sales channel, if this seemed opportune. In 1995 Silverman bought back 50% of the shares after many hip-hop artists at Warner were censored because of the C. Delores Tucker affair . In 1998 the Tommy Boy Gospel and Tommy Boy Black Label departments , specializing in underground hip-hop, and Tommy Boy Silver Label , for electronic music, were founded. In 2001 the film production company Tommy Boy Films was added. After Warner was unsatisfied with the sales, Silverman bought the label back in 2002. The master tapes of all previous productions as well as the artists under contract remained with Warner. The brand name passed to Silverman, who gave Warner a license for use in reprints of older productions. The label was renamed Tommy Boy Entertainment .
Artist
After the buyback by Silverman, only a few artists are now under contract with Tommy Boy. Throughout the label's history, some of the pioneers of hip hop music such as Afrika Bambaataa , Capone-N-Noreaga , Coolio , De La Soul , Digital Underground , House of Pain , Naughty by Nature , Prince Rakeem and Queen Latifah have been with Tommy Boy under contract.