Rap music occupies a space in the industry that is unlike many others. One aspect is its unique existence of collectives. In the history of rap, labels such as Death Row, Bad Boy Records, Young Money Records and Dreamville have doubled as collectives and have sometimes been embroiled in feuds, such as the aforementioned labels Death Row and Bad Boy Records throughout the 90s.
Some labels have collectives within, such as the group Black Hippy featuring Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) artists like ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul. There are some collectives that feature artists from primarily one label but crossover into others, such as the relatively new Beast Coast featuring Pro Era Records artists Joey Bada$$, Kirk Knight and CJ Fly (amongst several Pro Era artists) and feature the Flatbush Zombies and The Underachievers, both acts who are not a part of Pro Era.
Despite there not being any beef akin to 90s labels feuds, aside from healthy competition, there is a debate over which label/collective is the best. The ongoing discussions have three labels constantly brought up that each have a legitimate claim to best label/collective in rap today.
Those labels are TDE, Dreamville and Griselda.
Dreamville’s argument for the best is the overall success of their latest collective project, “Revenge of the Dreamers III.” J. Cole’s collective as well as many outside artists were locked in the studio for months bringing in rappers, singers, producers and sound engineers and had a competitive atmosphere to it in terms of who’s songs would make the album.
This release in addition to J. Cole’s individual success and the recent success of other individual Dreamville artists such as JID, Earthgang and Ari Lennox has people insisting there is no collective or label better than them right now. There is legitimate criticism, despite the constant mainstream growth of all the aforementioned artists, that label and the “Revenge of the Dreamers” project still feels like the label is just “J. Cole and Friends.” Ari Lennox and JID are receiving more mainstream growth every day, however, so this might change soon.
Griselda Records has been one of the greatest success stories in rap over recent years. Griselda Records’ artists such as Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, Armani Caesar and Boldy James have all been dropping constantly since its formation in 2012 but have only recently seen success. The label’s success over the recent years has seen them sign a distribution deal with Eminem’s Shady Records and a management deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label.
The label’s constant releases, sometimes dropping as frequently as one project a month, has resulted in many rap fans declaring them the greatest label off the quantity, quality and the frequency of their releases. The Griselda Records’ collective album, “What Would Chine Gun Do” was met with critical acclaim and this constant hustle and acclaim has them currently producing movie soundtracks, and having fans singing their praises.
Last, but not least, TDE. The label artists like Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, Zacari, and others call home. This label is by far the most commercially successful amongst the three. The label has sold more than ten million records just in the US and has Grammy wins and nominations in categories such as Rap Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, R&B Performance, New Artist, Album of the Year and others. Kendrick Lamar was even responsible for executive producing and curating the soundtrack for the hit Marvel movie “Black Panther.” The pedigree of Top Dawg Entertainment has never been in question, but the main critique of the label is they put out new music so infrequently. There has been controversy and delays constantly for artists such as SZA, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q, the Black Hippy collective, Isaiah Rashad and those are just the well-known ones.
Each label has their fair share of pros and cons, and the debate of who is the best will probably never be truly determined, but with labels of this quality being at the forefront of the rap and music industry, a lot of people can agree the genre is in a good place.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]