In a new entry on his blog, Thank God I’m Famous, Sickamore revealed that yesterday was
his last day in the office as Atlantic Records’ Director of A&R.
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Assuring that he didn’t leave Atlantic for another
job and that he wasn’t fired, he says that he “lost faith in the major label
system.”
In the blog, Sickamore
talks about how his fellow staffers at Atlantic made it a smooth transition for
his entry into the company, even though personal friend and fellow Atlantic Senior Vice President of A&R Kyambo “Hip Hop”
Joshua left his post at the label only a couple months after Sickamore’s hiring. Though he was
grateful for the signing power and the freedom to scour the country for talent,
he was frustrated with situations like those of rapper Saigon, who signed to the label years ago and still hasn’t seen a
release date for his album, the ironically-titled The Greatest Story Never Told. “I’m not going to sign talented
people to a label and have them sit,” Sickamore
said. “I rather bet on myself and get them hot in the streets.”
Sickamore
has been in the music business since he was a teen, when he sold custom mixtapes
to high school classmates and opened up his own record store in Brooklyn. As
his mixtape hustle expanded, he started landing freelance A&R jobs at
different record labels. Sickamore
joined Atlantic in December 2006, when Joshua
brought him onboard after recognizing his hustler mentality and his knowledge
of the business.
Sickamore
says the Atlantic job will probably be his last formal gig, but that he’ll “continue
to consult for Atlantic, Asylum Records, [and] Columbia Records as well as
continuing to help the artists I’ve signed like Wynter Gordon, Slim of 112
and of course Saigon.” He’s also focusing
on his work through his company, The Famous Firm.
