In terms of potential and actual is Roc-A-Fella the most under performing label ever?

[Complexion]

Was spinning the catalogue earlier and man, this label had everything. All angles were covered and then some. Just listen:

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And thats before we get into the marquee artists like Jay, Cam etc... Pound for pound in terms of sheer talent and timing it was the most under performing and delivering label in comparison to what it could've been if everyone was allowed to eat and have a seat at the table.

Granted you could say that Death Row was the original "What if?" but what we got when it shone showed them pushing it to the limit with each release being perfect whereas on the Roc it never felt like that happened as it all felt so nonchalant. Cam during his Blueprint freestyle era pushed the pen and flowed like the rent was due and he had something to prove:

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Can't say what was behind the scenes or caused it but just listening to all the talent on deck made me feel that their run should've been way bigger and influential as there was so much talent. And thats before we get into the producers, engineers and overall mix quality as well as all of the business aspects. It def seems like those that should've got the push and budget didn't and those that did didn't push it to the limit and it was signed off on anyway.

Granted the ringtone thing was coming and the demograph was shifting but Roc-A-Fella sounds like a huge "What if?" from the perspective of most of the talent. Of which there was loads and it was immense in terms of potential and skills.

What you think?

Side note: Prime Beans was the definition of a problem. I'd always known but in retrospect its obvious.​

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

no, that's Death Row. rocafella had gold and/or platinum albums every year for at least the first 10 years of their existence. They achieved the goal. Death Row comes out and absolutely EVERY STUDIO RELEASE is platinum for the first 4 years. There isn't a record label in the history of music, (hip hop, pop, r&b, whatever) that has done this before or since. First 4 years of nothing but multiplatinum/platinum albums. And peep this, all of the compilation albums were platinum too except 1. If that aint underachieving, then I don't know what is. The label owner and his homies wanted to be gangsters instead of making money

 

[Street Knowledge]

They sold a ton of records had several critically acclaimed albums and had huge hits. What were they supposed to do?

 

[Controversy]

Chris & Peedi should've been bigger stars...we needed a solo album from both

Even Oschino was a spitter

The Roc gave us hella classic albums & near classic albums:

The B. Coming
Diplomatic Immunity
The Black Album
College Dropout
Rasonable Doubt
Come Home W/ Me
The Blueprint
Philadelphia Freeway
Purple Haze

That early 2000s energy was centered around Rocafella

 

[Mike Wins]

If you go artist by artist they did about as good as you could hope

Jay and Kanye the only ones with real star power and the results speak for themselves

Amil was awful, no potential

Bleek getting three gold albums maybe the most impressive accomplishment. Marginal talent, zero charisma, generic as it gets. Any other label he probably one flop and done

Beans, dope artist with limited commercial appeal, he did well

State Prop outside Beans, only one with any commercial potential was Young Chris. He the one artist you can really say they dropped the ball with

Dip Set, entertaining as a collective but Cam the only one with the talent to have a prolonged solo run. He dropped two albums there, both did well

The Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen version of Def Jam was one of the most powerful hip hop label configurations ever. Those two leaving in 2004 coincided with the Roc internal conflicts bubbling over. Did it have an impact? It sure ain't help them. But more than that, most everyone on the label outside Kanye had peaked artistically and commercially years earlier, it had run its course

 

[JustCKing]

Roc'A-Fella, IMO was never what Bad Boy, Death Row, or even No Limit was. It was pretty much Jay Z until Kanye blew up as a rapper. Death Row had monumental albums from Dre, Snoop, and then Pac. Then you also had Dogg Pound. With Bad Boy, you had Craig Mack (laugh all you want, but Craig had a classic song and a gold album), Biggie, Mase, Puff, Shyne, The Lox, and Black Rob. All except Craig Mack and Shyne were platinum artists. No Limit's run was shorter, but you had P, Silkk, C, Mystikal, and Snoop. Then you had acts like Mia X, Fiend, and Kane & Abel that were gold.

 

[Thief's Theme]

Bad Boy

could've been so much better, not even counting Biggie's death

LOX left, could've had a solo Jadakiss album, Mase went to church and Black Rob, G Dep and Shyne all obviously never reached their fullest potential

 

[Complexion]

What made me think about this was the concept of Top 10 hip hop songs from the other thread. Using that as the barometer of a label/artist is quite interesting when it comes to their contribution. That and longevity in terms of still getting spins vs being hot for a few summers then gone and forgotten. Substance, depth, gravitas in some respect or just call it making classics that are still standing.

That and how crazy the unreleased catalog is as there was a heck of a lot of talent at the label.

 

[DontEemTry]

I'm most mad that their R&B stuff never got off the ground. There was a period where they released some GREAT R&B records

 

[HollywoodP]

how the fukk did Death Row underacheive. Everything they dropped was the biggest shyt and went platinum. They achieved the goal. It reached its potential. Then the cofounder and in house producer genius left to start his own shyt. Their best rapper was tragically murdered. Their CEO went to prison and their superstar went south to No Limit. Roc hit its potential too though Young Chris shoulda been bigger.

 

[The Connoisseurs]

With time comes more info and with teh information we know we really have to doubt that these major label execs were ready to put up a major label budget for a lot of these rappers.

 

[Ziggiy]

In my opinion they overachieved.

You can’t really name another label that was HEADED by a multiplatinum super successful artist that in turn produced as many stars as Roc-A-Fella did

Beanie Sigel
Memphis Bleek
Freeway
Cam’ron
Juelz Santana

Then they produced a genre defining mega star in Kanye West

Not to mention popularizing beats by Just Blaze and Bink