Madchild recently addressed the relaunch of Battle Axe Records in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX.
“Expect for the relaunch of Battle Axe Records before Christmas or early in 2014,” Madchild said. “I’m very excited about it. I can’t quite announce who my partner will be. But I’m very excited about who I’m going into business with. I don’t mean to use someone else’s quote, but I’m excited about building a brand that you can trust. I’m excited about building a label with my partner where people will know to come to Battle Axe to get the fiercest, rawest, most experienced emcees on the planet. That’s my goal with Battle Axe this time around.”
Madchild also said he plans to be more hands-on with the label this time around.
“My original intention with Battle Axe in the past got sort of diluted because we ended up having tremendous success in Canada, and I sort of left it in the hands of other people,” Mad Child said. “I was just sort of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but this time I’m going to pay very close attention and bring my original dream to fruition. I want to represent a certain thing. I want Battle Axe to represent a certain amount of fierce, fierce lyricism, quality control and artists that I appreciate. I’m not signing no artist that I wouldn’t drive around for a month and listen to. Hopefully there will be enough people that share the same tastes as mine, and we’ll have a nice go at it.”
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In August 2012, Mad Child spoke with HipHopDX about what he saw as the demise of Battle Axe Records.
“We put out a lot of cool 12 inch [singles] back in the day,” Mad Child said. “We put out some cool artists from the West Coast and I think we were part of the underground movement. But in 2006, I guess I kind of had lost interest. That’s where I was going. I basically lost interest. I wasn’t going to the office nearly as much anymore. The whole industry was changing. Free downloads were getting more popular and it was harder and harder to make a dollar. Instead of me being myself, sitting down and pumping the brakes like, ‘Let’s figure this out…’ The way I would look at it now would be like, ‘This is a challenge. Let’s figure out a way to still turn a profit. Let’s move with the times and get ahead of the times.’ That’s what the real me would have done. But because I was already getting mixed up with the Percocet, I was like, ‘Fuck it. Let’s shut this down.’ I was losing interest. But for example, now, in the last few months, I started something called Battleaxe Warriors. It’s a brotherhood. It’s a family. It’s for people that enjoy our music, my music and underground Hip Hop. This is a worldwide family we’re building. Already we’ve sold a thousand memberships in just a few months. That’s my point. To come back and run a record label now the way you did in 2006 is difficult to do. You have to think outside the box and get creative. So, I think eventually the concept of Battleaxe Warriors will become the new Battle Axe Records, if that makes any sense.
“A reincarnation where it’s one on one with our brothers, our family, the fans,” Mad Child continued. “Let’s say Battleaxe Warriors becomes 30,00 members strong. I’d rather have 30,000 strong where we can go to them directly and we can count on them and they can count on us. Those are real fans. They’re gonna come to the shows. They’re gonna support. We’re gonna spend time one on one with them. We can go out with 50-60 warriors and go for dinner and go to a movie and make it a real friendship, a real brotherhood. I’d rather have that, that’s gonna last for the next 10 years, rather than 100,000 fans that are here today, gone tomorrow. I’ll take a real family over some fickle ass fans that like your shit and then they’re on the next shit tomorrow any day.”
Madchild’s last release, 2012’s Dope Sick, was reportedly the first studio album the Canadian rapper recorded while sober. The project features songs like “Wake Up,” where he discusses his battles with addiction. As a part of Swollen Members, Madchild and the group also released 2012’s Beautiful Death Machine.
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Evidence, Son Doobie, Sunspot Jonz and Abstract Rude were among the many acts to release projects via Battle Axe Records from the 1990s through the 2000s.
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