The independent lane is wider than ever. Even though Chance The Rapper is the face of the movement, winning several Grammys off his Coloring Book “mixtape,” there are several others in the game paving the path, including Mello Music Group. The label was founded in 2007 by Michael Tolle, who admits he got his start in music late, but his passion for the art fueled his desire to make a business out of it. In an interview with JRECOGNIZE, the Tuscon native shares his story of perseverance to make his company a family.
“I slept three to four hours a night, seven days a week for a solid four years,” he says. “I remember being made fun of for dark circles under my eyes and being called raccoon face because I hadn’t slept in so long. But I never felt tired. I stayed awake at all hours because music was wonder.”
He encourages artists to have this same grind. Despite people seeming to blow up instantly with a SoundCloud hit or catchy radio single, Tolle insists there’s always a backstory for an artist that the public might not know about.
“The myth of the overnight success is bullshit,” he continues. “The best put out great records to start and got ignored. A lot of our best artists sold near nothing on their first albums — even ones considered classic with time. I’m talking a few hundred records total. What it’s about is building 150% of your fan base each time out and growing. You are building a career in music for a lifetime, not trying to win the lottery or get drafted to the NBA for a four-year run.”
That model has proven successful as Oddisee made waves with his album, The Iceberg earlier this year after winning HipHopDX’s Underrated Album of 2015 with The Good Fight. Apollo Brown also made his mark by working with Skyzoo on the popular collaborative project The Easy Truth. Open Mike Eagle, Quelle Chris, L’Orange and Mr. Lif also call the label home.
“Everybody needs a team,” Tolle says of an artist finding success. “Call it a label, or your family, or whatever, but you can’t do this without directors, photographers, graphic designers, sound engineers, artists, distributors, radio people, DJs, producers, emcees, singers, PR people, marketing, advertisers, agreements, paperwork, taxes, accounting, and the whole nine yards. You are going to need people to do it with you.”
Read the whole interview with Mello Music Group’s Michael Tolle at JRECOGNIZE.
Didnt you know when people think of classic hip hop they think of Tucson, Arizona lol
LMAO
Oddisee, Apollo Brown, Open Mike Eagle, Pete Rock, Guilty Simpson, L’Orange, Kool Keith, Red Pill, Mr. Lif, Jeremiah Jae, Rapper Big Pooh, Ras Kass, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Planet Asia… have all put out dope records with Mello Music Group. Whoever these clowns below commenting are, they clearly don’t know history. Mello Music Group is the Rawkus of today.
MMG not even close to Rawkus. I mean Rawkus had Black Star, Co Flow, Pharoahe Monch and Rawkus changed the game. The only MMG stand out persona is Oddisee. They make decent, good records, but they do not make classics. We’re talking about Train Of Thought, Funcrusher or Black On Both Sides quality. Not one label today comes close.
Oddisee is every bit on that legendary level. Apollo Brown “Trophies” with OC is classic – and Blasphemy was the best record Ras Kass ever made (Nature of the Threat may be a classic song, but album wise this one is more listenable). Open Mike Eagle “Dark Comedy” is a classic – if you don’t agree, we’ll talk again with time. Diamond District “In The Ruff” is classic. yU “Before Taxes” is a hidden gem. Plus a lot of potential for new guys like Red Pill (Look What This World Did To Us) and L’Orange to stand out too. Their compilations – especial Persona – are incredible. The label is like 6 years old, so give em the 15+ years Rawkus had. I feel like in 5 more years people will realize how much they dominated this decade.
Actually “Clouds’ is legendary too. And Guilty SImpson’s best album isn’t even on Stones Throw – it’s with Apollo Brown. And for the true heads records like “In Case I Don’t Make It” are revered too. In fact, Quelle Chris’ new one “Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You” is gonna go do as one of the most unique ever. MMG has it locked up right now.
Dude you obviously work that label no one else know of half those garbage artist you speak of. If there so dope why they on some unknown rap label out of Arizona? Chump!
bruh are you for real? you really never heard of Mr Lif, Kool Keith (seriously?), Ras Kass, Big Pooh… the fuck?
First learned about Mello after buying the Ugly Heroes EP on vinyl. Never heard of the group but the cover art spoke to me and tracklist included a song called “Michael, Scottie, and Horace”. I new it would be dope!!
Duckdown best indie label, mello next best thing.
Apollo Brown with Sean Price would’ve been classic
TuckTown On the Map? Realto be litt tho!!
I hope one day a black person would run a label like this.