 Read about how hip hop artist Bobby Creekwater, through working with HitQuarters, made his way through the music industry to land a record deal with Eminem's Shady Records.Below follows an interview with Bobby Creekwater released by HitQuarters on May 15th, 2006. It tells the exciting story on how an ambitious hip hop artist went from being unknown to signing with Eminem's Shady Records and becoming a high priority artist on one of the most wanted hip hop record labels in the world.HitQuarters is the world’s leading portal between the established music industry and the unsigned artist community. It holds the largest available database of contact details for A&Rs, managers, producers and publishers, including credits. HitQuarters Artist Bobby Creekwater Signs A Record Deal With Shady Records!
In 2004, rap artist Bobby Creekwater used HitQuarters as a resource for approaching the music industry with his songs. 1.5 years later he has landed a record deal with one of the world’s most wanted record labels – Shady Records. His debut album, “A Brilliant Mistake”, is up for release in September 2006.Read the exclusive interview with Bobby Creekwater on how his songs found their way into Shady Records offices, how the signing process came about, what his and Shady Records’ approach to bidding wars is and what knowledge and experiences Bobby has to share with other unsigned artists. Also, read comments by Riggs Morales, A&R at Shady Records, No.1 on the 2003 World Top 100 A&R Chart and member of the HitQuarters A&R Panel (to read the HitQuarters interview with Riggs, click here). How did you start MC-ing, back in the day? I was MC-ing before high school. I met Charlie Jangles on Pebblebrook High in the 9th grade. He asked me to form a group by the name of Jatis. We performed at local talent shows. We had a lot of chemistry, musically. We were starting our performing career professionally in the 11th grade. How did you hook up with producer Sol Messiah? We were at the right place at the right time. We did so many talent shows and showcases that the opportunities came back from the relationships that we made. Our first album, ‘Coup D’Villains’, was never actually released. After we left our live situation we ended up going over to Sony/Columbia. We ended up being there for a year and a half before we were released from that deal. Jatis were offered a deal with Steve Rifkind’s Loud Records. How come? At the time we had a relationship with a group by the name of Dead Prez. When they were performing in Atlanta we would go to their show. They had an A&R by the name of Sean Cane. He came down with them and heard some of our music. Eventually he took it back to Steve Rifkind. And Steve decided that he wanted to sign us. How did two Jatis songs get on the NBA Baller video game on Midway Sports? I got those through Jason McAfee. It was a friend of mine who I was dealing with at the time. He called me and asked me to submit songs because he was doing some work for Midway Games. They liked the songs and we ended up getting “Skills Like This” and “Ball” on the video game. When did you first take on a manager? At the time of our first deal we took on Kevin Lee. He’s managing Jay-Z now, but he was our first manager. You’re now doing your solo project. The name is “A Brilliant Mistake” by Bobby Creekwater on Shady Records. I just did the deal with Shady. They showed me a lot of love. We’re hopefully going to drop the album around September of this year. Going solo was just something that happened. After we lost our situation we fell back and looked at the game and the state that it was in. We looked at the progress that we had made. We decided to take a break from Jatis and explore other options. Me and Charlie never broke up. Bobby Creek was me exploring myself. I was starting producing, I found a sound, and I just ran with it. Shady found out what I was doing and they reached out to me. They liked it, believed in it, and we went with it. It was the best thing for us to do as far as getting us in the door. How did your music find its way into the offices? The music found its way into Shady offices through Sean Cane. He had an artist named Aasim, signed to Bad Boy, and me and Aasim did a lot of songs together. He was playing one of the songs called “Anyway” that Aasim did, and I happened to be on that particular song. Riggs Morales heard the song and was inquiring like: “Who is this kid Bobby Creek?”, and the rest is history. What happened to your songs afterwards? As far as the Bobby Creek songs, I had already been recording before Shady came and find me. I already had a collection of songs. Even outside of the deal we made a whole new collection of songs, because we’re always recording. What was the process from your first contact with Shady up until the deal was signed? It was a pretty easy process. Everybody knew they wanted to do the deal. I was presented as Bobby Creekwater. I went to New York City twice. I did the first meeting with Riggs Morales to play him some music. I had 20 songs. I had a little album, like a demo package in the form of an album. The second meeting was with Paul Rosenberg. He heard the music. He believed in the project. We made it happen pretty quickly. It wasn’t a lot of going back and forth or whatever. People knew what they wanted. What was discussed in those meetings? They wanted to get a feel for Bobby Creekwater. Get a feel for my direction, for what I had going on, where I saw myself at in this music industry thing. They knew they liked the music but they wanted to get a feel for the person. Were there any live shows that Shady went to? At the time I was recording. There weren’t a lot of shows then. What was the competition from other labels? Labels started to get aware of it. It wasn’t to the point where it could cause a problem for Shady though. I got a lot of calls. They insinuated that they wanted to offer me something but they never made moves on it. When Shady came into the picture it just felt right. When Shady showed interest, did it make the contact with other labels more intense? Not at all. We sat down with Paul and he let us know his concern as far as the bidding war was concerned. A lot of artists in the past had tried to do that. They get an offer from one label and they run to another. Letting the label know that they’re trying to start a bidding war. I felt comfortable with that situation as far as Shady was concerned. I had always told my manager that that would be one of the labels I could see myself at. For me to go start a bidding war wouldn’t have been in my best interest. Especially when they were giving me what I needed from the jump. How do you rehearse for the big release? By staying busy. Doing a lot of interviews. Staying in the studio. Rehearsing for the show. There’s much to be done until the big day. I’m always working in some capacity to better myself in some area. Did it make a difference when you switched manager? It made a big difference. One of the things I found out from my previous deal is that... Submit your songs to an A&R Panel (with dozens of platinum credits) World Top 100 A&R Chart Record Label Vote A&R Interviews - Read 100's of interviews with the most successful A&Rs, managers and music producers. Advisory Text for artists and musicians - Get professional advise for free when building your music career. Clive Davis, A&R 1000 Record Labels |
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