It's A Wonderful World Music Group is an independent record label, founded by hip hop producer

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Little Brother (group), Little Brother. The idea of starting his own label was given to him by a fiance of one of the members of his production team. The company initially had distribution from

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

under

Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. However, creative differences between 9th and Asylum Records were the primary delay behind the release of his 2011 album ''The Wonder Years''. He then left the company and sought distribution from Traffic Entertainment Group and The Orchard for the physical release of It's A Wonderful World's first offering, Big Remo's 2010 album ''Entrapment'' and his long-delayed ''The Wonder Years''. In January 2008, 9th Wonder initially announced plans to start two independent record labels, Jamla and The Academy, under the It's a Wonderful World imprint. The names of the two labels referenced his background: ''The Academy'' referred to his position as a college professor, while ''Jamla'' was a nod to

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

' original name

Tamla Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

. Jamla originally consisted of Brooklyn rapper

Skyzoo Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1982), known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American Songwriter and rapper. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' with 9th Wonder in ...

, 2005–06 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team player Quentin Thomas – better known as the moniker GQ, rapper

Rapsody Marlanna Evans (born January 21, 1983), better known by her stage name Rapsody, is an American rapper. Her second album, ''Laila's Wisdom'' (2017), which was critically acclaimed, received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album and Bes ...

, R&B singer Tyler Woods, and hardcore rapper Big Remo. The Academy consisted of rapper HaLo, singer Heather Victoria, Thee Tom Hardy, North Carolinian duo Actual Proof, TP & The Away Team. The Academy artists were later folded into the Jamla label. In 2012, It's A Wonderful Music Group obtained distribution from its current distributor, Empire Distribution. The first album released under the deal was Rapsody's debut ''

The Idea of Beautiful ''The Idea of Beautiful'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Rapsody. It was released on August 28, 2012, by independent record label It's A Wonderful World Music Group. The album was released after the critical acclaim of her mixtapes ...

''. Jamla also had a short-lived joint venture deal with

Buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired throu ...

Duck Down Music Duck Down Music Inc is a New York City based record label, talent management, music-marketing, and consulting company founded by Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman and Kenyatta "Buckshot" Blake in 1995. In Duck Down's 20-year existence, the Company has rel ...

to distribute albums by Skyzoo and The Away Team. In July 2010, 9th Wonder officially debuted his production team for IWWMG. The Soul Council consists of

Khrysis Christopher Frederick Tyson (born September 7, 1981), better known as Khrysis, is an American hip hop producer and half of the duo The Away Team. Khrysis' productions consist of samples of records with intricate melodies and diverse drum bea ...

, E. Jones, Fatin "10" Horton, Ka$h Don't Make Beats, AMP, Eric G., & 9th Wonder himself. In August 2014, 9th Wonder announced Nottz as being the newest member of The Soul Council. In November 2015,

Hi-Tek Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek (born May 5, 1976), is an American rapper and record producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band, whom Hi- ...

was announced as the newest member of The Soul Council. Aside from 9th Wonder being the President and CEO, other members of Jamla hold executive positions as well. The Away Team member Sean Boog was named as label manager in 2013. In April 2015, recording engineer

Young Guru Gimel Androus Keaton (born February 27, 1974), better known by his stage name Young Guru, is an American audio engineer, record producer, disc jockey, and record executive from Wilmington, Delaware. In 2019, Young Guru won a Grammy Award for Be ...

was named as the Director of Operations. The Soul Council producer AMP is also the label's artwork director, while Khrysis is the label's in-house recording engineer as well as mixing and mastering engineer.

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and has additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation comprises a comprehensive talent agency, sports agency, record label, mana ...

signed Rapsody in 2016 and Reuben Vincent in 2021.

Jamla Records

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Rapsody Marlanna Evans (born January 21, 1983), better known by her stage name Rapsody, is an American rapper. Her second album, ''Laila's Wisdom'' (2017), which was critically acclaimed, received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album and Bes ...

* Heather Victoria

Past Artists

* TP * Actual Proof * Thee Tom Hardy * Big Remo * HaLo * The Away Team

Discography

Notable albums

*2009: Skyzoo – '' The Salvation (Skyzoo album), The Salvation'' (Jamla/Duck Down) *2011: 9th Wonder – ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...

'' *2011: The Away Team – ''

Scars & Stripes ''Scars & Stripes'' is the fourth album by North Carolina hip hop duo The Away Team, it was released on October 11, 2011, on 9th Wonder's label Jamla Records and Duck Down. The album's entirely produced by Khrysis, featuring contributions from t ...

'' (Jamla/Duck Down) *2012: Rapsody – ''

'' *2012: 9th Wonder & Buckshot – '' The Solution'' (Jamla/Duck Down) *2012: Murs & 9th Wonder – '' The Final Adventure'' *2015: Murs & 9th Wonder – '' Brighter Daze'' *2017: Rapsody – ''

Laila's Wisdom ''Laila's Wisdom'' is the second studio album by American rapper Rapsody, released on September 22, 2017, by Jamla Records and Roc Nation. It is Rapsody's first album released under her partnership with Roc Nation. The album features collaboration ...

'' (Jamla/

) *2019: Rapsody – ''

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

'' (Jamla/

)

References

External links