Industry 101 SICKAMORE
Known for being the youngest Director of A&R in the game, Sickamore shocked the industry by resigning from his position at Atlantic Records. OZONE recently caught up with Sickamore while he was driving to JFK Airport on his way to Miami to scout talent. We discuss how he went from Mixtape DJ to A&R, why he left his position, and how his consultation company The Famous Firm will change the industry. How in the world does a 16-year-old open up his own record store? Well, I was 16 years old when I got the lease to the record store but 17 when it opened up for business. I went to an Alternative High School where everyone at the school received a mentor. My mentor gave me a few books on business to read my freshman year. I eventually got through the books he gave me and at 15 I wrote my first business plan. After that, the schooling system didn’t really work for me. And from there you started doing mixtapes? Yeah, I had been making mixtapes and selling them while I was still in school. I made the supply for a untapped market. My tapes made money and I kept collecting, and before I was 18 I was running my own business. Then came Saigon? Yep. He had a lot of substance. I knew he would blow up big or not blow up at all. At the time he was working with Mark Ronson and I could tell his talent wasn’t being cultivated in the right way. He just needed branding and new beats. So how’d you hook him up with Just Blaze? I was sponsored by a clothing company to go on the Roc The Mic Tour and Just Blaze had his own tour bus. So, I was just real persistent and told him Kanye was killing it with his label and he needed someone like me to help him with his own label. After awhile he gave me a shot and told me to find an artist and then we’ll see what’s up. So, I brought him Saigon.
So is it a general skill or talent level that you look for in an artist? I look for artists that aren’t green. I look for people who are already moving on their own. It’s about how big your movement is and how hard your camp hustles. Record labels are now looking for artists that have all the tools but need a push. You don’t necessarily need BDS or Soundscan numbers, you just need a buzz or strong momentum. When I look for talent, I’m not looking for someone sitting on their ass wanting something handed to them. You’ve gotta be moving.
signing talent. Our job is about the management of an album. In that position you are the record label’s representative to the artist, and vice versa. It’s important that you can communicate each party’s direction and get them on the same page. A&Rs lose jobs because of the lack of relationships with the artist, their management or production team working with them. Managing relationships is what we get paid for. Contacts are vital to being an A&R. Being able to call up certain producers, or get another artist on a remix is crucial to the job.
Does that mean as an artist you need to come pre-packaged? No, but a lot of people expect a record label to mold artists and develop them. That doesn’t happen anymore. When Nas dropped Illmatic he didn’t do major numbers but when you look back, that was a major project. The labels kept Nas and his fan base grew, but an artist today will not get those same opportunities.
How have you adjusted going from a “boy wonder” into a legitimate force in the industry? Honestly, people aren’t shocked by my age anymore. No one considers me a rookie. I was lucky, because most people have to intern for two years to get to an assistant A&R position for two more years and then maybe after a total of seven or eight years, you might get an A&R gig. I’m just thankful I didn’t lose my youth working for a system I don’t believe in.
Right, cause the labels are about that paper. Yeah, but the upside to having more polished artists is that the more control an artist has, the bigger their return will be. Artists are making a lot more money now than artists in the early 90s, but overall the system doesn’t work. A&Rs make salary and get points on albums but what does it matter if the album doesn’t go 4x platinum? How did you get placed as an A&R so early? I met Hip Hop while working on Saigon’s project at Roc-a-Fella with Just Blaze. Most people don’t know but Saigon was signed on as a joint venture through Hip Hop 1978 not Fort Knox. After the Tru Life deal was done Kyambo brought me in to Atlantic under him and G. Roberson. A&Rs are often perceived as having glamorous jobs, but it is probably the most misunderstood position in the business. What is it that you all actually do? Being an A&R is about anticipation. It’s more than just picking what songs you think will blow up and be hits. We don’t run around the country just
Is that why you left? Yes. I left almost two years to the day I started working for them. It just became frustrating to put my heart and soul in a project that doesn’t come out just to work on something else [the label] wanted me to work on. The music business has stopped being about the music and has become a record business concerned with sales. When music sales went down the music industry went down with it, and it shouldn’t have been that way. I left Atlantic with a plan and four or five interns. I take it you’re referring to your consultation business? Yes, The Famous Firm. The Famous Firm is going to turn into a talent label, where the focus is not as much on artists but talent, which could include graphic designers, engineers, and public affairs professionals, as well as artists. Any person who has their own business wants to get their company to a point where the company functions without you. // Words: Jared Anderson // Photo: Heather Drake
OZONE MAG // 83