During a bidding war of 2004, Roc-a-Fella was among one of the many labels vying for the services of the self-proclaimed “revolutionary” Hip Hop group, dead prez. After Loud Records was dissolved, M-1 and stic.man negotiated a release from Loud’s parent label, Sony, which allowed for the creation of their Pimp the System remix to the single “Hell Yeah.”
“We were meeting with Jay,” M-1 explained in an interview with Mikey T The Movie Star. “And I was able to connect with him and go in the studio. We already had a record on Sony, but we were released and walked away with the record RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta. So as we were going around and playing people this record that never came out on Sony, Jay-Z heard a song, which he called ‘The Pizza Man Song.’ We ended up recording his feature during the time we had left the record label. Jay also wanted us to entertain the idea of signing a deal with Roc-a-Fella.”
The collaboration was recorded during a two-year period that saw Roc-a-fella expand its roster with the unlikely signings of Ol Dirty Bastard and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, among others. In December of 2004, Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke sold their remaining 50 percent stake of Roc-A-Fella Records to Island Def Jam. Jay-Z would later take a position of President at Def Jam, effectively ending the Roc-A-Fella era. And, in an ironic twist, dead prez found themselves in familiar territory.
“By the end of 2004…towards 2005, Sony Records came back into the picture,” M-1 added. “[Sony] made a better offer than anyone monetarily, and then we ended up signing back to Sony Records. RBG ended up getting put out on Sony at that time, and it wasn’t really well-promoted, because they still didn’t really know how to do it.”
No need for first comment; dead prez is one of the best groups.
real hiphop!!!!!!!!!!!
love dead prez. was excited at first to hear they didnt waste their time signing their and sitting on the shelf for years. but that is basically what they doin’ now.
where the fuck is information age at?!?!?!?
your solo album was good m-1 i didnt like stic.man’s as much. we need more of that real
food clothes and shelter land bread and housing
I heard they turned down a deal wit Roc Nation…
Why?
I think Jay woulda championed them as the 2011 Public Enemy.
Stic One is a friggin force of nature. M 1 get busy too.
That “Malcolm Martin Huey” shoulda got a LOT more burn.
I’m STILL loving “Food Clothes and Shelter” from the 1997 black Loud Cassette with “Im Not a Player” by Pun on it…
some niggaz dont want that jay-z look…i would say to sign with jay would have certain niggaz lookin soft….
Check out my story of when I met Jay-z
http://www.myjayzencounter.com
Jay trying to secure talent and longevity,. signing song writers, talent like j.cole . jay elec,.no gimmicks.. Willow smith is the female justin beiber, the new threat,. she gonna do movies , broadway plays,. and have a music career. j.cole and jay elec . are gonna be huge in the rap game for years to come,. i think its stupid move for dead prez to not sign with roc nation , anyways sometimes brothas try to be too militant , as grown men we make choices, they made theirs so knowing what we dont know there must have been somethign along the lines of not owning their masters that salted the deal.
don’t think it was saying there were going to sign to Roc Nation, but to Roc-a-fela back in ’04.
M-1 says Sony didn’t know how to promote it. I say, they didn’t want to promote it.
They don’t want the shit Dead Prez says being heard by millions.
It would fuck around and wake some people up and we can’t have that.
True a proactive public equals total chaos for the currently set up class structure. i have never seen it so i am only assuming this
so Sony ended up outbidding all of the other labels that wanted them and signed them to a multi-million dollar deal just so they could sabotage their career. wow, that’s deep….
Much love to dead prez! that ‘window to my soul’ on ‘get free or die tryin’ is the TRUTH!!!! #bigup #salute