Gee Street Records was a British hip hop

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

started by Jon Baker in 1985. The label's name came from its original location, a converted warehouse on Gee Street (off

Old Street Old Street is a street in inner north-east Central London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, via St Luke's and Old Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meets Shoreditch High ...

) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, EC1. Between 1980 and 1984, label head Baker lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. After returning to London in 1984, he became a hip-hop promoter, and in 1985 opened Gee Street Records and began releasing white-label dance and hip-hop records. Many of these broke new ground. The label developed a roster of prominent domestic UK acts, including DJ Richie Rich,

Outlaw Posse Outlaw Posse was a British hip hop group formed by Bello B (real name Isaac Bello) and K-Gee (real name Karl Gordon). They also recorded together as Outlaw and Brothers Like Outlaw, before the group finally split in 1992. Biography K-Gee started o ...

, and

Stereo MC's Stereo MC's are an English Hip hop music, hip hop/electronic dance music, electronic dance group which formed in Nottingham, England, in 1985. They had an international Top 40, top 20 hit with their single "Connected (Stereo MCs song), Connected ...

, and US acts, including

P.M. Dawn P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New J ...

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

, Gravediggaz, and

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. In 1990, Gee Street was acquired by Chris Blackwell's

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. After Blackwell left Island and the PolyGram group in 1998, Baker bought back Gee Street and sold it to

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

's fledgling

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

. The label was shuttered in 2001. In 2006, V2 sold its American catalogue, including Gee Street, to Sheridan Square Entertainment, home of

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York-based independent record label, founded in July 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as President, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. Artemis had a leading share of the U.S. i ...

. In 2010, Artemis was sold to

Entertainment One Music MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had b ...

Selected discography

* Jungle Brothers, ''Straight out of the Jungle'' (1988, licensed from

Warlock Records Warlock Records is a record label based in New York City that was founded in 1985 by Adam Levy (born 1962), whose father was record producer Morris Levy. Artists that recorded for Warlock Records include Jungle Brothers, Royal House, Skinny Boys ...

) * Stereo MCs ''

33-45-78 ''33-45-78'' is the 1989 debut album by the Stereo MC's. It was recorded on a shoestring budget with DJ Cesare as drummer and Cath Coffey as backing vocalist. ''Billboard'' declared that 33-45-78 proved the band "capable of wildly imaginative ...

'' (1989) * Eternity, ''Project One'' (1989) * Richie Rich, ''I Can Make You Dance'' (1988) *

, ''My Afro's on Fire'' (1989) * Stereo MCs, ''Supernatural'' (1990) * PM Dawn, ''Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience'' (1991) * Carlene Davis, ''Carlene Davis'' (1992) * Stereo MCs, ''Connected'' (1992) *

, '' Heavy Load'' (1993) * PM Dawn, ''The Bliss Album…? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence)'' (1993) * Gravediggaz, ''6 Feet Deep'' (1994) * Doug E. Fresh, ''Play'' (1994) * PM Dawn, ''Jesus Wept'' (1995) * Malcolm McLaren, ''Paris'' (1995) * Ambersunshower, ''Walter T. Smith'' (1996) *

, '' Paradise Don't Come Cheap'' (1996) * Jungle Brothers, ''Raw Deluxe'' (1997) * Gravediggaz, ''The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel'' (1998) * Various Artists, soundtrack to the motion picture ''Senseless'' (1998) * RZA, ''Bobby Digital in Stereo'' (1998) * PM Dawn, ''Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad'' (1998) * Ky-Mani Marley, The Journey (2000) * Tragedy Khadafi, ''Against All Odds'' (2001)

References

External links

* Clunis,
Gee Jam puts down roots in Portland
22 Dec 2000 ''

The Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'' retrieved 26 July 2010 {{Authority control British record labels Record labels established in 1985 Record labels disestablished in 1996 Hip hop record labels Island Records British companies established in 1985

Selected discography

See also

References

External links