Arguably the most important southern Hip Hop label of the past few years is looking to expand its roster. Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, spoke with HipHopDX recently to let our readers know just exactly how he plans to do that. Additionally, during our conversation Mr. Lucas explained to DX the origins of Trick Daddy’s recent departure from S-N-S, if Trina will be following in Trick’s footsteps and leaving the label, and even with a couple recent artist’s exodus’ how he plans to keep Slip-N-Slide a commercial force to be reckoned with for a couple more decades.
Following the gold-plaque netting successes of Plies and Rick Ross, the Miami-based label is seeking to take their knack for discovering new talent outside of the Sunshine State. In conjunction with their major-label distributors Def Jam and Atlantic Records, Lucas will begin this coming Saturday (June 7th) going to cities throughout the south and Midwest in search of “The Next Big Superstar.”
“I’m doing a reality T.V. show,”Lucas explained to DX. “I’ma go out here and find out who’s the next real superstar that I can sign to my label. I don’t care if you in a gospel group, or somebody in your church that you know can sing, or that boy that might be working at McDonald’s who be rappin’ all the time while he making them burgers, or that boy that’s on the block that rappin’, come check me out when I hit your city. I don’t care if you’re two hours away, it’s gonna be worth [the trip]. It’s gonna change your life.”
Two eventual finalists will be chosen to compete for a chance to win a recording contract with Slip-N-Slide (partnering with Def Jam or Atlantic). And all comers will likely land on national television once “The Next Big Superstar” hits the air (Lucas is currently in talks with a couple of networks to broadcast his new artist search).
“It ain’t about the T.V. show though,” said Lucas. “I gotta make sure Slip-N-Slide Records can be around another 15, 20 years. And I’m doing this [show] a little different, this ain’t gonna be no American Idol or Making The Band type stuff. I’ma show it to you from a real point of view, where I can go get somebody that’s living in a shack and change they whole family’s lifestyle.”
While Lucas and Slip-N-Slide look to build for the future, it’s the label’s past that seems to be garnering the most media attention at the moment. Reports of S-N-S’ seminal artist, Trick Daddy, leaving his label home of over a decade and signing with a competing southern Hip Hop powerhouse have surfaced [click to read].
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“I don’t know if Trick Daddy signed with Cash Money [as a solo artist],”Lucas explained. “My understanding is Trick Daddy started his own label called Dunk Ryder Records, and his group is signed with Cash Money. Now if Trick Daddy signed with Cash Money [as a solo artist], I don’t know. But I have heard rumors about Trick Daddy signing with Cash Money. If he did, man, my blessings go out to Slim, Baby and him. I ain’t got no problems with it. I wish them the best.”
Although in an exclusive report published here at DX earlier today Trick Daddy suggested that he and Lucas’ relationship wasn’t even close enough for their kids to have interacted with each other [click to read], the Slip-N-Slide CEO, who has publicly credited Trick’s now deceased brother, Hollywood, for assisting him in starting the label, insisted he and Trick’s relationship remains on solid ground.
“I ain’t never had no problems with Trick Daddy,” he said. “Trick Daddy’s my brother. I love that man. I mean, like how I love my momma. I love Trick Daddy. There ain’t no problems over here.”
While according to Lucas the personal relationship between he and Trick is still intact, clearly the professional relationship between the two has been over since the commercial failure of Trick’s last solo effort, 2006’s Back By Thug Demand, led to rumors last fall that Trick had been dropped by Atlantic Records.
Subsequent reports have suggested that disputes between Trick and Atlantic over the handling of his album led to a rift between Lucas and his first artist. The CEO asserted there is no wedge between the two, but suggested that Trick’s lackluster touring contributed in some way to the end of their working relationship.
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“Trick Daddy’s been doing this for a long time,”Lucas noted before adding, “He’s [had] a lot of hit records. But in this day and age of the music business you gotta get out there and touch the cities. Trick Daddy been able to put hit records out for days, but now the way the music business is it ain’t only [about making] hit records, you gotta get out here and touch the [people]. Just like I’m not sitting behind a desk just waiting on that hit record to fall [in my lap], an artist gotta get out here and go touch cities state-to-state. And I ain’t talking about just because there’s a paid date, I’m talking about promo dates. You gotta get out here and work, man.”
Slip-N-Slide’s current marquee artist Rick Ross temporarily left the label in 2003 over reported disputes between “The Boss” and his label boss only to resolve those differences and return to recording for S-N-S. Lucas seems to desire a comparable turn of events to take place with Trick.
“If he wants, he can come back to Slip-N-Slide tomorrow,” said Lucas. “The door is not closed on him. The door is open at all times. I’m not trippin’, me and him can continue to make hit records.”
Rumors have surfaced recently that Lucas may be about to lose his other veteran artist, Trina, to a situation similar to that of Trick’s, with the femme fatale leaving Slip-N-Slide for greener pastures.
“That’s incorrect,” said Lucas of the rumors surrounding Trina exiting the label. “People probably wanna just put stuff in the air, but that’s my girl. I’m here to support her all the way to the end. Whatever she wanna do, I’ma support her.”
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History is rumored to be repeating itself due to Trina, like Trick before her, experiencing the lowest sales of her career following the release of her latest effort, Still Da Baddest, on April 1st. Lucas however says Trina’s album is performing as expected and sitting at roughly 150,000 copies sold solely because it was her first independent release.
“Trina’s album to me, it was a great success,” said Lucas. “We did this album independently. We didn’t do it with no partners like Def Jam or Atlantic. We kept our expenses low, and we knew what we were doing. We did an excellent job in letting people know [about the album]. People would think [from the promotion] it was on Atlantic, but this was done all independently.”
According to Lucas, Trina is already back in the studio recording her next album for Slip-N-Slide. Unfortunately for his fans, one artist that won’t be returning to record for the label is Wes Fif. After signing the Orlando-based newcomer just last fall [click to read], the rising regional star was reportedly forced out of his Slip-N-Slide contract last month after failing to craft a suitable radio-friendly first single.
“We gave him an opportunity, basically like a trial period to try and see if we could do something with him,” Lucas said of Wes. “He got a nice buzz going on in his area. One of my A&R’s wanted to get him and try and see what we could do with him. He didn’t really like leave [the label]. We just made the decision that right now our plate is full. I think Wes is an incredible artist. But right now our plate is so full, and [so] we just could not give him the attention and time that he needs as an artist right now. So it’s no beef or nothing between us. I think that [if] he gets in the right situation he’s gonna be able to make that hit record and get himself out there.”
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Lucas’ plate is indeed overflowing with the recent launches of both a rock and gospel division of Slip-N-Slide, as well as preparing for the debut of the label’s first pop artist, Qwote [click to read], and next Tuesday’s (June 10th) release of Plies’ sophomore album, Definition Of Real.
“We just gonna continue to put these [new] artists on the board and let people know that Slip-N-Slide is not [just] a rap label, or a down south label,” said Lucas of the S-N-S’ future plans. “We gonna hit all genres of music and take this thing from an independent level [doing] urban [music] and do all genres of music. We serious about this, man.”
Dates for “The Next Big Superstar” talent search are below.
June 7, 2008 Tampa, Florida
June 14, 2008 Norfolk, Virginia
June 21, 2008 Columbia, South Carolina
July 12, 2008 Orlando, Florida
July 19, 2008 Columbus, Georgia
July 26, 2008 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
August 9, 2008 Detroit, Michigan
August 16, 2008 Chicago, Illinois
August 23, 2008 West Palm Beach, Florida
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For more information on venues in each city where the competitions will be taking place and for a registration form visit www.slipnsliderecords.net.
