Maybach Music Group (; abbreviated MMG) is a
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 pr ...
imprint founded by American rapper
Rick Ross
William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper.
Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...
. Maybach Music Group albums are distributed by
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 im ...
, a division of the
Atlantic Records Group
Atlantic Records Group LLC is an umbrella label owned by Warner Music Group. It oversees several labels assigned to its Atlantic Records unit. In total, the label group has nearly three hundred artists on its roster.
History
In 2004, Time Warner ...
. Atlantic took over distribution following the expiration of a deal with
Island Def Jam. As of December 12, 2012, the label releases are now distributed by Atlantic Records. 19 solo and three compilation albums have been released by Maybach Music Group, including five certified
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
albums and three certified
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
albums .
Maybach is home to many successful artists such as Ross himself,
Wale,
Meek Mill,
Omarion,
Gunplay, and
Torch,
Smoke Bulga among others. The label has also had seven albums debut at number one on the
''Billboard'' 200 such as ''
Deeper Than Rap'', ''
God Forgives, I Don't'', and ''
Mastermind'' by
Rick Ross
William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper.
Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...
, ''
The Gifted'' and ''
The Album About Nothing'' by
Wale and ''
Dreams Worth More Than Money'' and ''
Championships
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
'' by
Meek Mill.
History
2009-2011
Maybach Music Group released its first album in the summer of 2009, which was Rick Ross' third studio album ''
Deeper Than Rap''. After the release, Ross focused more on signing artists to his label, in the process discovering musicians such as
Masspike Miles & hip hop group
Triple C's who consists of members
Gunplay,
Torch, & Young Breed. On October 27, 2009, Ross released
Triple C's debut studio album ''
Custom Cars & Cycles'' through Def Jam. In 2010, MMG issued ''
Teflon Don
John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss ...
'', with another album titled ''Color, Cut & Clarity'' by Triple C's also scheduled for distribution, however was delayed and has yet to be released.
Also in 2010, Ross made an offer to rapper
Wiz Khalifa
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...
to sign to Maybach Music Group. Khalifa at the time was already signed 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 im ...
. In 2011, Ross confirmed that he intended to launch Maybach Music Jamaica along with Maybach Music Latino. He also signed Maybach Music Group's first
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
artist, Magazeen. On March 25, 2011, it was announced that R&B & Soul singer
Teedra Moses
Teedra Shenita Moses (born December 17, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer.
Early life
Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She later moved to Los Angeles with her mother and three siblings after her parents separated. ...
had signed to Maybach Music Group via
Warner Bros. Records as its first female artist. On May 23, 2011, Maybach Music Group released the album ''
Self Made Vol. 1
''Self Made Vol. 1'' is a compilation album by MMG. The album was released on May 24, 2011, by Maybach Music Group and Warner Bros. Records. It features MMG's new roster additions, Wale, Meek Mill, Teedra Moses, Pill and Stalley along with Tor ...
'', featuring Rick Ross with Maybach's new roster additions,
Wale,
Meek Mill,
Teedra Moses
Teedra Shenita Moses (born December 17, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer.
Early life
Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She later moved to Los Angeles with her mother and three siblings after her parents separated. ...
,
Pill, and
Stalley along with
Torch and
Gunplay of
Triple C's.
2012-present
On January 2, 2012, while in the studio with Rick Ross,
French Montana
Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...
announced that he had signed a joint venture deal with Maybach Music Group and
Bad Boy Records with Rick Ross and
Diddy set to executive produce his debut album. It was announced that his debut album
Excuse My French would be released in Fall 2012 through
Interscope Records. On February 4, 2012, Rick Ross spoke about the departure of
Pill from Maybach Music Group and revealed that Pill was never actually signed to Maybach Music Group. Pill was already signed to Warner Bros. prior to Maybach Music Group and it was Warner executives who proposed the idea of Pill joining. Ross says that they worked out a one-year deal where Pill would be part of the team and after the year was up, it would be up to Warner Bros. Records to decide if he stayed or not.
On May 2, 2012, Rick Ross would go on to sign
Omarion to the Maybach Music Group. He also announced that ''
Self Made Vol. 2
''Self Made Vol. 2'' is the second compilation album by MMG. The album was released on June 26, 2012, by Maybach Music Group, Warner Bros. Records and Def Jam Recordings. Like the previous album, ''Self Made Vol. 2'' features contributions from m ...
'' would be released on June 26, 2012, and ''
God Forgives, I Don't'' would be released on July 31, 2012.
On June 22, 2012, while promoting ''Self Made Vol. 2'', Rick Ross said that
Gunplay signed a solo deal with Def Jam and that more material would be released from Gunplay leading up to his debut album. There have been rumors that rapper
Dom Kennedy or
Nipsey Hussle were in talks on joining the label but when asked about the rumors Ross stated that he was a fan of them, but is not yet signed to Maybach Music Group. On July 12, 2012, after rumors that rapper
Rockie Fresh was in talks to joining the label, Ross confirmed that Rockie Fresh was the newest addition to Maybach Music Group. Rockie Fresh released a mixtape entitled
Electric Highway that dropped January 21, 2013 as his first project released under the imprint.
On December 11, 2012, Ross announced that his label, MMG was leaving
Warner Bros. Records and that the label is moving to
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 im ...
. Ross is, however, signed as a solo artist to
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...
. On June 2, 2013, Rick Ross revealed an album cover and announced that Maybach Music Group will be releasing their third collaboration album, ''
Self Made Vol. 3'' on August 6, 2013. On June 3, 2013, three songs, all to appear on the album, "
Poor Decisions
"Poor Decisions" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Wale, released as the first single from the Maybach Music Group (MMG) compilation album, '' Self Made Vol. 3''. The song features fellow American rappers Rick Ross and Lupe Fiasco, th ...
", "God Is Great" and "Oil Money Gang" were released. On June 4, 2013, a video for each of the 3 songs were uploaded to the group's official YouTube page. ''Self Made Vol. 3'' was released to generally positive reviews on September 17, 2013. The same day Stalley released his first retail project ''
Honest Cowboy EP''. On November 6, 2013, MMG announced that they had signed Washington DC rapper
Fat Trel
Martrel Reeves (born June 26, 1990), better known by his stage name Fat Trel, is an American rapper. He is currently signed to MGE The Label with distribution of Asylum Records. He was signed to DTLA Records with the distribution with Beryl Med ...
.
On August 26, 2017, Rick Ross appeared on Signed, a
VH1 Television series where Ross,
The Dream and Lenny S, mentor aspiring artists and eventually offer them a place on their respective labels (MMG,
Radio Killa Records, and
Roc Nation). Rick Ross offered Cozywiththecurls and Just Brittany single deals, both of whom accepted. Jeff Chery and Tay Walker - the winners of the TV show - were also offered deals with MMG.
In late 2017,
Stalley announced his departure from the label.
Notable acts
*
Wale
*
Gunplay
*
French Montana
Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...
*
Omarion
*
Stalley
Discography
The following is a list of albums released through Maybach Music Group, various album distributors are noted below.
Notes
References
{{Authority control
American record labels
Companies based in Atlanta
Contemporary R&B record labels
American hip hop record labels
Labels distributed by Warner Music Group
Record labels established in 2009
Warner Music labels
Vanity record labels