Keep Cool is an American

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 ...

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 A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, a subsidiary of

Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation SONAM, headquartered in New York City, manages the company's US-based businesses. Sony's principal U.S. businesse ...

History

Tunji Balogun began working with

as an A&R, where he signed and developed artists

Bryson Tiller Bryson Djuan Tiller (born January 2, 1993) is an American singer and rapper. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began his career in 2011 with a mixtape entitled ''Killer Instinct Vol. 1''. Tiller initially gained mainstream success in 2015 follo ...

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, and

H.E.R. Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson (born June 27, 1997), known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her", an acronym for "Having Everything Revealed"), is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actress. She has received several awards includin ...

He was also involved in the partnership with RCA and

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label founded in 2004, by CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Terrence "Punch" Henderson is president of the label. There are currently eleven artists signed to the label: the label's f ...

that signed SZA, bringing

Cozz Cody Rashad Osagie, (born October 1, 1994), better known by his stage name Cozz, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is signed to J. Cole's label Dreamville Records and Interscope Records. His debut studio album ''Cozz & Effe ...

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, as well as contributing in signing

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, Glove ...

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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 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-center, and finding meaningful ways to organically build culture around them. Keep Cool will be a safe-haven for artists and creatives who want to do things differently." The same day, they announced the signing of

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 wen ...

. In November 2018, they revealed the signings of

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 ...

and duo

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 p ...

. On February 20, 2019, Keep Cool announced a deal with hip hop duo

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib 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 du ...

for their second album ''Bandana''. In May 2020, Keep Cool announced the signing of

UMI Umi or UMI may refer to: Geography * Umi, Iran, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran * Umi, Fukuoka, a town in Japan People * Umi-a-Liloa, king of the island of Hawaii *Umi Dachlan, Indonesian female artist * Umi Garrett, American female pi ...

to the label. In February 2021, Keep Cool announced the addition of Louisville-singer Marzz to the roster.

Roster

Current artists

Former artists

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

References

{{Authority control American record labels RCA Records Contemporary R&B record labels