Tru 'Dat' Entertainment (also variated as Tru 'dat' Entertainment, Trudat Entertainment and TRU DAT Entertainment) or plainly Tru Dat was a Los Angeles, California-based firm founded in 2006 by Hysear Randell, a wealthy

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

entrepreneur, as a recruitment platform for urban talent in music, sport, film and fashion. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment also aimed to aid the poor by providing them with opportunities for recruitment at one of their establishments. The company was still in its first stages of development so their rosters were not lengthy.

History

Music

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was based as a junior record label with hopes of establishing a lengthy roster of talented artists in the genre of hip hop. Tru Dat signed former

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre ('' ...

artist,

Tha Realest Jevon Jones (born October 11, 1973) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, '' Witness Tha Realest'', was released on July 14, 2009, followin ...

, and also employed Bosko, a talented young

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

. Tha Realest released his first

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for his intended debut single, "Eurry Now And Then", on the label, which was also set to distribute Tha Realest's upcoming debut album, ''

Witness Tha Realest ''Witness Tha Realest'' is the debut album by rapper Tha Realest. The album was released on July 14, 2009 by RBC Records/Team Dime Entertainment and distributed by E1 Music (formerly Koch Records).Tha Realest Jevon Jones (born October 11, 1973) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, '' Witness Tha Realest'', was released on July 14, 2009, followin ...

*Bosko

Other ventures

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment worked as a project company for urban-style films. Tru Dat worked on the production of ''

Waist Deep ''Waist Deep'' is a 2006 American action drama film directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall and starring Tyrese Gibson and Meagan Good. Plot Ex-con Otis Samuel Sr. or "O2" on account of his ability to vanish from a crime scene like oxygen, has done his t ...

'', a 2006 film about a father, whose son is kidnapped by members of a criminal organization, who must collect a ransom amount of $100,000 by taking on a criminal persona. Tru Dat's production of the film was successful through various affiliates and subsidiaries, such as ''Tycoon International Holdings'' and ''Radar Pictures''. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was working on other film projects including ''PITBULL'' and ''Ear 2 Da Street'' which were due for release in late 2007 to early 200

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was working on establishing an urban clothing brand. The line of clothing was aimed at footwear fashion and hip-hop-style clothing. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment established a subsidiary for sports. This way, Tru 'Dat' Entertainment focused on promoting

boxing match Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing boxing glove, protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a ...

es and skilled boxers. Tru Dat was determined to recruit youth and train them to become tough competitive boxers, who in turn will shape the structure of the Tru Dat industr

Tax-scam controversy

On April 28, 2007, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

was issued for Hysear Don Randell. According to '' The Denver Post'' and ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'', Hysear's girlfriend Michelle Cawthra, a revenue supervisor at the Department of Revenue in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, authorized phony

tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one of ...

s to Randell and Holliday by forging former Revenue Department employees' signatures. Sources say that she transferred approximately $5.3 million ($5,327,278) with a total estimate of $8 million to bank accounts held by Randell. Randell was arrested on May 2, 2007 and held, along with Cawthra and Holliday, in

Arapahoe County Arapahoe County may refer to: *Arapahoe County, Colorado *Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory Arapahoe County was a county of Kansas Territory in the United States that existed from August 25, 1855, until Kansas's admission into the Union on January ...

jail on $10 million bail. Andre Holliday was released on lack of evidence of involvement in the scheme but Cawthra was charged with 27 counts of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

, theft and forgery (violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act,

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

to commit

computer crime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

, conspiracy to commit theft, and 18 counts of forgery, embezzlement of public property, theft and conspiracy to commit embezzlement of public property)."Woman charged in scheme"
by Sue Lindsay, ''Rocky Mountain News'', May 3, 2007 Following the incident, in 2008, it was alleged that Tru Dat had officially been discontinued. Its back catalogs were sold to Rapp Records.

References

{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 2006 Hip hop record labels