Keep Cool Records
Keep Cool is an American record label founded by Tunji Balogun, alongside Right Hand Music Group founder Courtney Stewart, A&R Jon Tanners and marketing executive Jared Sherman. The label is a joint venture with RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. History Tunji Balogun began working with RCA Records as an A&R, where he signed and developed artists Bryson Tiller, GoldLink, Khalid, Wizkid, and H.E.R. He was also involved in the partnership with RCA and Top Dawg Entertainment that signed SZA, bringing Cozz to Dreamville Records, as well as contributing in signing Childish Gambino to RCA. On April 9, 2018, RCA and Keep Cool announced the joint venture record label to sign and develop artists, promoting Tunji Balogun to executive vice president of A&R. Balogun spoke with ''Billboard'' about the deal saying: "I’m honored to be able to continue that legacy with the launch of Keep Cool. My passion is discovering and working with artists that are slightly left-of- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of Sony. It was originally founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed as Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, following its acquisition by the Columbia Broadcasting System. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records, and Sony Corporation bought the company in 1988, renaming it under its current name in 1991. In 2004, Sony and Bertelsmann established a 50-50 joint venture known as Sony BMG, which transferred the businesses of Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group into one entity. However, in 2008, Sony acquired Bertelsmann's stake, and the company reverted to the Sony Music name shortly after; the buyout allowed Sony to acquire all of BMG's labels, which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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SZA (singer)
Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she began making music in the early 2010s, releasing two extended plays before signing with the hip hop music, hip hop record label Top Dawg Entertainment, through which she released ''Z (EP), Z'' (2014), her third EP and first retail release. That same year, she co-wrote "Feeling Myself (Nicki Minaj song), Feeling Myself" with Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. In 2016, she was featured on Rihanna's song "Consideration (song), Consideration". SZA's debut studio album, ''Ctrl (SZA album), Ctrl'' (2017), was released to universal acclaim from music critics. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified triple Platinum certification, platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, the album earned her four nominations, including Best New Artist. In 2020, i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Silk Canvas
''Silk Canvas'' is the 2018 debut album by Nigerian-American R&B duo VanJess. The album was self-released by the duo, who spent two years working on the album. On November 8, 2019, the duo released ''Silk Canvas (The Remixes)'' including features from Ari Lennox, Bas, Saba, Xavier Omär, and more. The album contains features from Masego, GoldLink, Berhana, Leikeli47, and Little Simz. The production came from Jay "Kurzweil" Oyebadejo, IAMNOBODI, and KAYTRANADA, among others. Background The album was influenced by the duo's Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ... heritage. Critical reception ''Silk Canvas'' received positive reviews from music critics. ''Pitchfork'' praised the album giving it a 7.7 out of 10, saying: "the sisters wield enough magic to make ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bandana (album)
''Bandana'' is the second collaborative studio album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs and record producer Madlib. It was released on June 28, 2019, by ESGN, Keep Cool Records, Madlib Invazion, and RCA Records. Entirely produced by Madlib, it is the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2014 album ''Piñata'', and their sixth project as MadGibbs overall. The album features guest appearances from Pusha T, Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak, Yasiin Bey, and Black Thought. Background During Madlib's talk with Red Bull Music Academy on May 7, 2016, he announced that he and Freddie Gibbs will be releasing a second collaborative studio album called ''Bandana''. On May 11, 2019, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib announced that ''Bandana'' will be the second installment of a planned trilogy, following ''Piñata'', and that the third project will be called ''Montana''. Gibbs has described the album as a "manifesto", stating that he wrote the majority of his lyrics while incarcerated and expecting to "go ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Painted (Lucky Daye Album)
''Painted'' is the debut studio album by American singer Lucky Daye. It was released on May 24, 2019, by Keep Cool Records and RCA Records. The album was broken up into two EP's, a part of a series to lead up to his debut album. The album received a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards, while the album's lead single "Roll Some Mo" received nominations for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance. Album cut "Real Games" received a nomination in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category. In honor of the album's first anniversary, a deluxe edition of ''Painted'' was released in May 2020 including new mixes and alternative versions of previously released songs as well as four new tracks. Background After he previously competed on American Idol during Season 4 in 2005, at age 19, Daye established himself as a songwriter and background vocalist and landed credits in 2008 on songs by Keith Sweat on his album '' Just Me'' and Ne-Yo on "She Got Her Own". During this ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UMI (artist)
Tierra Umi Wilson (born February 9, 1999) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Seattle, Washington, she attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out in 2019 in order to pursue music. She is best known for her 2018 song "Remember Me", which has over 130 million streams on Spotify. She also accompanied Conan Gray as an opening act on his Comfort Crowd Tour in 2019. Early life Wilson was born in Seattle in 1999 to an African-American father and a Japanese mother. Her mother taught her how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Wilson's mother plays piano and her father plays the drums. UMI started writing music when she was 4 or 5, with a songwriting journal. Throughout high school, she was involved in DECA (organization), DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and her track team at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, Washington, Maple Valley. In high school, she discovered YouTube beats and started writing to tracks. She would record the songs with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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MadGibbs
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, sometimes known as MadGibbs, is an American hip hop duo formed in San Francisco, California in 2011. The duo is composed of Gary, Indiana-based Freddie Gibbs rapping and Oxnard, California native Madlib producing. The duo has released two studio albums, ''Piñata'' in 2014 and '' Bandana'' in 2019. They have also released five extended plays (EPs) together. History 2011–13: Formation and debut EPs On November 18, 2011, at the Madlib Medicine Show live event at Mighty in San Francisco, Madlib brought out Freddie Gibbs and announced their first collaborative EP titled '' Thuggin'''. The project had been concealed for at least six months until it was made available for sale at the event. Gibbs performed the title track and "Deep" during his collaborative set with Madlib. Following the surprise performance, five hundred copies of the limited-edition EP were sold at the venue. The EP was exclusively on sale at Madlib's shows, but was made available for reta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VanJess
VanJess was a Nigerian-American R&B duo composed of sisters Ivana and Jessica Nwokike. The duo began their career on YouTube performing cover songs. After one of their videos, a cover of Drake's "Headlines", had viral success, they decided to pursue a serious career in music. In 2011 the duo hired a manager and recorded in a studio for the first time. On 12 November 2018, the group announced that they had signed to the RCA joint venture label Keep Cool. Thus far in their career, VanJess have released one studio album, ''Silk Canvas'', and one EP, ''Homegrown''. History The sisters are first generation Nigerian immigrants of Igbo origin, although they were both born in the United States. According to Jessica, they spent 'about eight or nine years' of their childhood in Nigeria, before moving to La Palma, California with their mother, when they were 10 and 8 years old, respectively. They later moved to Cerritos. Jessica and Ivana attended a performing arts elementary school ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lucky Daye
David Debrandon Brown (born September 25, 1985), professionally known as Lucky Daye, is an American singer-songwriter from New Orleans. He is signed to Keep Cool Records and RCA Records. He released his first EP, ''I'' on November 9, 2018 and his second EP, ''II'' on February 6, 2019. The EPs were part of a series leading up to his debut studio album ''Painted'' which was released on May 24, 2019. His third EP, ''Table for Two'', won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album. His second album, ''Candydrip'', was released on March 10, 2022. Early life David Debrandon Brown was born on September 25, 1985 in New Orleans. He was raised in a church that forbade listening to secular music, but he discovered an innate knack for singing and taught himself melodies by turning children books into songs of his own. Brown went back to immerse himself in classic R&B songs and developed a love for artists including Prince, Rick James, Lauryn Hill, and Stevie Wonder. He relocated to A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Normani
Normani Kordei Hamilton ( ; born May 31, 1996) is an American singer and dancer. She auditioned as a solo act for the American television series ''The X Factor'' in 2012, after which she became a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which went on to become one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in Fifth Harmony, Normani competed in '' Dancing with the Stars'' (2017) and released her first song outside of the group " Love Lies" (2018), a duet with Khalid. The song peaked in the top ten in the US, was certified 5× platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and is tied as the longest charting song by a female artist on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Following Fifth Harmony's indefinite hiatus, Normani released a two-song EP with Calvin Harris, ''Normani x Calvin Harris'' (2018). That same year, she released the single "Waves" featuring 6lack, which won Normani the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. Her duet with Sam Smith "Dancing wit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in different genres of music. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs, and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph, and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Childish Gambino
Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glover was hired at age 23 by Tina Fey as a writer for the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock''. He later rose to fame for portraying college student Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV series), Community'' from 2009 to 2014. From 2016 to 2022, Glover starred in the FX (TV channel), FX series ''Atlanta (TV series), Atlanta'', which he created and occasionally directed. For his work on ''Atlanta'', Glover won various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Glover has starred in several successful films including the supernatural horror ''The Lazarus Effect (2015 film), The Lazarus Effect'' (2015), the comedy-drama ''Magic Mike XXL'' (2015), and science fiction film ''The Martian (film), The Martian'' (2015). He pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |