Beat Factory was a Canadian

urban music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

management and production company, and later, an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. In 1982, Beat Factory was founded by Ivan Berry and songwriter Rupert Gayle. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Beat Factory managed the top urban music artists in Canada. In 1988, Berry signed

Michie Mee Michelle McCullock (born November 1, 1970), better known by her stage name Michie Mee, is a Canadian rapper and actress. Canada's first notable female MC, she is considered a national hip-hop pioneer. Early life and career McCullock was born i ...

to an international record deal with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, making her the first

Canadian hip hop The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained l ...

artist signed to a major label. Beat Factory's biggest success was the Dream Warriors, who sold 800,000 copies of their debut album ''

And Now the Legacy Begins ''And Now the Legacy Begins'' is the debut album of Canadian hip hop duo Dream Warriors, released April 23, 1991. It was released worldwide on Island Records and in the United States on sub-label 4th & B'way Records (although it was not a hit in ...

'', released in 1991. In 1996, Berry founded Beat Factory Music Inc., a record label division of Beat Factory, distributed by

EMI Music Canada EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and

BMG Music Canada BMG Music Canada was the Canadian division of BMG, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History BMG was formed in 1970. In 1986, it acquired RCA Records. In the acquisition, the company acquired RCA Victor Ltd. to form BMG Music Canada as par ...

. The label released a series of

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s, known as '' RapEssentials'' and '' GroovEssentials''. These albums included the first singles by

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall (), is a Canadian rapper, record producer, DJ, and record executive. Often credited as Canada's " hip hop ambassador", he is regarded as one of the country ...

and

Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early li ...

, both of whom became prominent artists in the 2000s.

References

Companies established in 1982 Record labels established in 1996 Canadian independent record labels Canadian hip hop record labels Contemporary R&B record labels Defunct record labels of Canada 1982 establishments in Ontario {{Canada-record-label-stub

See also

References