Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Faith Newman
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we sit down with the incomparable Faith Newman — a true architect of hip-hop history and a champion of timeless music.
From cataloging records as a kid to co-executive producing Illmatic and signing legends like Nas, Jamiroquai, and The Isley Brothers, Faith’s journey is nothing short of iconic. As one of the first five employees at Def Jam and now EVP at Reservoir, she’s spent four decades shaping culture—always with a sharp ear, real passion, and a strict no asshole policy.
Tap in for a conversation with the woman who’s kept the soul of the music alive.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
This week on Mixed and Mastered, I am joined by an industry legend whose fingerprints are all over the past, present and future of hip-hop and soul music, faith Newman, being one of the first five employees of Def Jam Records. Her legacy includes discovering Nas, executive producing Illmatic and signing Jamiroquai. Faith brings an unmatched insight into the art and business of music. Akwae. Faith brings an unmatched insight into the art and business of music. Currently executive VP of A&R, catalog Development and Reservoir. Faith has signed iconic artists in their catalogs, from De La Soul to the Isley Brothers and Young Thug. Faith Newman is next on Mixed and Mastered. Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, a podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. Mixed and Mastered with an old homie and former neighbor.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a former neighbor of mine, Faith Newman. Hi the legendary Faith Newman.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Jeff.
Speaker 1:When I was telling people that you were taping, people were like oh shit, faith Newman, the legendary Faith.
Speaker 3:Newman. Thank you, Jeff.
Speaker 1:When I was telling people that you were taping, people were like oh shit, faith Newman. I'm like yeah, yeah, I know Faith Newman.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's dope, that's dope, she's dope. Yeah, man, I've just been doing it a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we both have my.
Speaker 2:God, oh, my God. Yeah, I mean I was talking to DJ Pooh last week. He was recalling, you know, when they first, you know, they brought them to New York to work with Todd and they put them up in this apartment in Brooklyn but they weren't really paying them anything. So we used to bring them like McDonald's and stuff, and he was like I remember that, you know, because we were like practically starving and you saved us and I was like Pooh, like poo. That was 1986. You do realize it's almost 40 years ago.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about all that. I don't want to give it all away at the front because you have a long. You're one of the well, not few, but I guess nowadays you're one of the people who has been around longer than me. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. There's not many people left. There's not many people left that have been around longer than me. I started in 89 and you were already rolling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 89, I was at Def Jam, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were rolling, so let's start from the beginning. You're a Philly girl, I'm a Philly girl, I'm a Philly girl. Okay, real quick, real quick. What's your favorite cheesesteak place?
Speaker 2:Pat's, okay or no. You know what it's really Jim Steaks on South Street. I know that sounds really touristy or whatever, but I like Jim Steaks.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:And then Pat's second.
Speaker 1:You're a Philly girl, born and raised.
Speaker 2:Yes indeed.
Speaker 1:And how did you, what was your first kind of, I guess, spark to get into the music?
Speaker 2:Music business. Well, I you know it's funny.
Speaker 1:I have a Not even music business, just music in general.
Speaker 2:Music, yeah, no, because there was always music in my house. I mean, I'm talking, like you know, three, four years old, remembering my dad playing music on. Uh, they had one of those old reel to reel players and he would play like Ray Charles and Jonas Joplin and the birds and all kinds of really they're actually soulful stuff. Um, which I really gravitated towards. And so that you know there's actually gravitated towards and so that you know there's actually, there's a picture on my wall behind me, of me at three um, playing with a turntable and some 40 and a box of 45s. Um, you know, a little dj action at three years old. Um, I don't know it, just it just spoke to me somehow and I would memorize lyrics. I was really good at that. So there's always music playing in the car and I would like sing along and and started collecting records.
Speaker 2:I guess when I was about seven years old, eight years old, I remember my first album was with my dad in the mall and we were walking past Woolworths. You remember Woolworths, Of course, of course, and there was Soul Train. The hits that made it happen was on display in front of Woolworths and, Chris, I love Soul Train. I used to wake up every Saturday morning and run to the TV to watch Soul Train. And I said to my dad I said I want this one. He said are you sure you want that one? I said I want this one. And I still have it.
Speaker 2:And now you still have that I still have it and which is nice because I sold most of when my parents moved out of the house.
Speaker 1:I sold most of my vinyl wow, I think my first vinyl was the Jackson 5 Christmas album. I think they were. Yeah, I don't have it anymore.
Speaker 2:Up to that point, you know I had collected 45s and then, like you know so, soul Train. That Soul Train album was my first album purchase and then my second one was Cool in the Gang. So I definitely had a preference for r&b. You know, that was me, spoke to me that those were the records that I was buying and then, if you fast forward to me, it so I used to do also was like I had a book where I would like put all my records in with the corresponding number next to them.
Speaker 2:And I did the number on the record so that I cataloged all my music, you know, and that was like eight, nine years old. So I guess, if you fast forward to 14, because I don't want this to take up too much- yeah, I got you, I got you um, I went to a concert.
Speaker 2:Uh, the group called the cars, who I used to love yeah, I remember they were playing at the spectrum in philadelphia and my brother, who was 16 at the time, took me and I remember, uh, being very excited because I loved the group and I thought you know I was their biggest fan, and all this no, and, and I get to and I'm sitting in in the spectrum and I'm like looking around like 20 000 people. I'm like I don't like this shit, like you didn't like to be general population no, exactly, exactly, I said.
Speaker 2:I said I want to be somebody who makes these things happen. That's what I want to do with my life. Okay, so that was at 14. So everything I did from that point on was pointed in that direction that's dope and I. When I was 16 I got an internship with electric factory concerts in phil.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so I got to be backstage at a bunch of shows.
Speaker 1:How was that for like a 16-year-old girl to see all that, what's happening in the back?
Speaker 2:It was wild. I mean, you know there was a lot of cocaine, Not that I part.
Speaker 1:I know, but it was happening around me.
Speaker 2:It was happening around me, but I do very vividly Marvin Gaye's sexual healing tour. Wow, came to the spectrum and I did get to meet him briefly and that was incredible. He was kind of high out of his mind but it was still Marvin Gaye, so that was incredible. That's amazing, yeah, and there's a funny story related to that because Ashford and Simpson opened for him. And do you know who Jimmy Simpson is?
Speaker 1:No, I know, didn't her other brother sing for Village People? I think her brother was the lead singer for Village People, but don't quote me.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's very possible. Anyway, he kind of was pushed up on me a bit and you know, and there's a longer story to it, but the story ends with him being at a party in Washington DC in a hotel room with like a bunch you know 100 people, and then all of a sudden all the people leave and then it's just the two of us and he's like puts his hand on the door and says yeah, and says you know, you want to be in the music business. You know you don't get something for nothing. You know like you're not going to just leave here without you know, don't get something for nothing. You know like you're not gonna just leave here without you know.
Speaker 2:It was just, it was like textbook, like something out of an after-school special or something and um he dropped his hand and I ran out the door and ran down the hall and oh my god, you've been through it, boy, you've been through it and boy, You've been through it, and the perfect ending to that is that by 87, I was working for Def Jam and I saw him at remember that there it was called 2020? I don't remember 2020. Crosford Simpson had a restaurant, slash club, slash, yeah. Anyway, I saw him there and I gave him my business card.
Speaker 1:I was like wow wow, yeah so you leave philly graduate, graduate high school, blah, blah, blah yeah, yeah you come to nyu come to nyu and you, you, just this is this isn't. Uh, when the music because I read a piece on you, um, and it was very it brought back a lot of memories and this was the time when the music business was in new york, was pretty new and it was like a lot of small labels and people kind of moving around, and so how did you get get to def jam?
Speaker 2:because you came up to be a student yes, I came up to be a student, but you know, my goal was to be in the music industry, you know, like not as an intern but full, you know. And I started by. This is a weird story, okay, so I was, I modeled when I first came to New York, okay, and you know, some print work, advertising stuff, whatever. And I did a show. I did a fashion show at studio 54, which wasn't like it was in the old days, but they were still having events there. And uh, this guy, my mom was there with me, and this guy comes up to me afterwards and he's like, you know, my name is steve pipitko, I'm a music attorney. Because, oh, they had asked the girls who were, who were in the show, what they wanted to do with their life. And I said I want to be in the music business.
Speaker 2:So he said, if you ever have any questions or whatever, you know, come to me and I'll, you know and it wasn't like I didn't get a skeeby kind of vibe from him which turned out to be correct because he ever was, because we stayed friends for many years he got me an internship at Slack Records.
Speaker 1:Wow, fred Mineo.
Speaker 2:Fred Mineo. So that was you know. Whistle UTFO Real Roxanne.
Speaker 1:Was Kidding Play there at the time.
Speaker 2:Not yet.
Speaker 1:Okay, they weren't there yet Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, this was like the summer of 86, I want to say Okay, so I did that. And then there's such weird stories. I go to a party with Steve for Billy Ocean's Platinum Record Party. It was a Jive Records party. And so Barry would have been there. I don't know if Clive would have been there.
Speaker 1:Probably.
Speaker 2:And that's where I met Gary Harris. And Gary Harris was, like you know, we just started talking about music and he was like I don't even know, like where do you come from? Like you know, I don't understand, who are you, you know? And he said you know you should. I said I'm looking, you know, my internship at Select is ending, I'm looking to get another internship. And he suggested that I reach out to his friend at Columbia Records who was doing promotion at the time. So I got in late, like late 86, I turned 21 and I had this big party and Houdini was there and Run DMC was there and the Beastie Boys were there. It was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I started an internship at Columbia Records, which was very enlightening.
Speaker 1:And now, who did you work under?
Speaker 2:I worked under a woman named Gail Bruzwitz who did a dance club promotion.
Speaker 1:Okay, and just give me a little brief overview how you liked it.
Speaker 2:You know, I stuffed envelopes and I kept my ears and my eyes open yeah no, I mean it was. The company was run by, you know, white men, and strictly, and women were relegated to assistance or pr and gail was the only woman in the promotion department, and so I can't even imagine what she had to deal with.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a different one when I left Wild Pitch and I went to Chrysalis Records, which was Billy Idol and Pat Benatar, and it was pretty much a rock label, yeah, but it was the same thing. It was like white dudes. It was the same thing, rock and roll like white dudes, and the women were assistants. And then there was a woman in pr and I still remember her name, francis pennington, because francis actually was the was, uh, the guy from tears of fear's girlfriend, but it was the same energy that was the record business back then. It was.
Speaker 2:That was totally the record business back then and I had a deal with getting hit on by the, you know the 40 something guys and the you know the 40-something guys in the, you know in the promo department, and because you got to think that those guys started out in the 70s, right? Because 86 is only 10 years apart from 76. And you could just, you know, like whatever was going on back then, they carried it through.
Speaker 1:Carried it through exactly.
Speaker 2:And Walter yetnikoff had actually just left when I got there, so I'm sure that would have been interesting yeah, so tell me how you get from that to now.
Speaker 1:Let me tell the people, because I don't know if you want to say this, but yeah you were one of the first five employees of death jam records that's correct that's insane, that's yes. That's like literally insane. Like no, like you were there. You were like Crush, groove or whatever. Like you were literally there at the beginning, like with all that you know what they show in the movie, like in the, from the dorm room to the thing and all that. You were like literally there for all of that. So tell us about that.
Speaker 2:So I so that, um, so I, so you know, just to backtrack real quick, I, you know, I, I, my internship was was ending with with columbia, and my last day of my internship, gail took me in her office and said you know, do yourself a favor and get out of this business. It's no place for women. She was crying. I mean, this was like. She's like they'll like eat you alive and you know, try to find something else to do with your life before you. Wow, wow, I'm like. You know, I'm 20 years old, so I'm like.
Speaker 2:I'll be all right, I'll be all right, don't worry about me, I know I got. Be all right, don't worry about me, I know I got, I got this, I got this, yeah, you know, so. So. So then, like steve came through again and he said look, I have got you an interview with charles huggins at hush production wow yeah charles and bo huggins char Charles and Bo Huggins, so I think it was to be an assistant to Hank Talbert.
Speaker 1:I didn't know Hank. I didn't know Hank Talbert, no.
Speaker 2:And so I went. I did the interview. They wanted to hire me the day before I was supposed to go back to meet Charles. I came home from class, I was still at NYU. I came home from class and, there know, I was still at NYU. I came home from class and there was a note on the refrigerator that said Rick Rubin called.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I was like. I said to my roommate I was like, is this a joke? And he said no, I don't think so. He said it sounded for real. So I called the number slowly and Rick, you know how he has that way of speaking. He's like hello.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:I'm like this is, you know, faith Newman, and you know I didn't know, you called. He said yep, we need some more people at Def Jam and we want to hire you. I was like okay.
Speaker 1:You bet.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah. And he said do you want to know how much you're going to make? I don't care, I'm like I'll pay you. Exactly, I was broke, but I was like I will pay you.
Speaker 1:So what was Aldi's?
Speaker 2:you know my parents sent me $50 a week.
Speaker 1:That was like my was LO out at that time was the LO out.
Speaker 2:at that time was that album out, the first album the first album, yeah, wow and was the Beasties, but the Beasties no the Beasties had just put out License to Ill just okay, wow, yes, wow, and Public Enemy, the Beasties had just put out. License to Ill, just okay, wow, yes, wow. It's crazy and Public Enemy.
Speaker 1:The first album.
Speaker 2:The first album. So it's funny. So he's like well, come see me at the office and we can talk about what you're going to be doing and stuff. And so I go see him and he's like I was talking, you know, because I was I was also, you know, club kid, so I was at land quarter and I was at union square and I was at rooftop and I was at all those places and I used to go to music factory to get my, my records, you know, and um, and he was just like where's I going with this? Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So I said I would talk. I was talking about like new hip hop stuff that was coming out. And he was like, yeah, I'm not really, you know, I'm in a different place right now. I'm more into like rock stuff right now. So that's like he, like we had already, like he was such a visionary I got, I got to say I mean this was, you know, this was early 87 and he was already like moving on to like Danzig and Slayer and all the stuff that he was doing at that time you know, Wow.
Speaker 2:So this was April of 87 and my first first day at Def Jam was June 1st 1987.
Speaker 1:And who were the other four employees? Do you remember?
Speaker 2:Sure yeah, Dave Funkin' Klein yeah.
Speaker 1:Dave, that was my guy. That was my guy. Man Loved him.
Speaker 2:George Solmers.
Speaker 1:I didn't know him.
Speaker 2:Bill Stephanie Lindsey Williams.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And Don Greco.
Speaker 1:Okay, I didn't know her.
Speaker 3:So I know, three out of the five Okay.
Speaker 1:So how was it like starting a small label like that? That became obviously a powerhouse. It was amazing. I mean, we worked it like starting a small label like that.
Speaker 2:That became that obviously a powerhouse. It was amazing. I mean, we worked in a shitty little office like on the second floor, 298 Elizabeth Street, which had no heat and no air conditioning, and I would like complain to Russell. I'm like it's so cold in here I don't know what to do. He's like go home that was.
Speaker 2:Russell yeah, go home. That was so, russell. Yeah, it was, but it was like the time of my life, I gotta say it just. You know it was funny because people would come from around the world to Def Jam and they would walk into our little office and be like, oh, this is it. Yeah, right, thinking it's going to be some big old like oh, this is it.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, Thinking it's going to be some big old conglomerate.
Speaker 2:Rush management on the ground floor was much more impressive than we did. Wow.
Speaker 1:Don't you know.
Speaker 2:It was like we shared desks and phones. There weren't enough for everybody. Oh, did I mention George Solmers?
Speaker 1:You did, I didn't know him.
Speaker 2:What did he do? Mention George.
Speaker 1:What did George do?
Speaker 2:George did stuff with getting sponsorships from Troop, from some skateboard company that I can't remember the name of, okay. He did that kind name of Okay. Okay, he did like that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 2:And Dave Klein did promotion and marketing stuff.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking about my first experience at my first record company job. Yeah, did you? Did you even know kind of what you were doing, or you just got to doing shit?
Speaker 2:I just, you just kind of did whatever needed to be done. I remember none of the artists had signed up with the PRO, so I took everybody on a field trip to ASCAP and got them all signed up.
Speaker 1:So you didn't even know they had money out there because they were signed up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they were leaving money on the table, wow, so that was one thing that I did.
Speaker 1:Did that start your interest in publishing?
Speaker 2:Actually it did, it did, it did. It was funny, I mean. And the way you had to do things back then in terms of copyrights was like getting a cassette and getting a lyric sheet and mailing it to the Library of Congress, I mean, that's you know. So I remember like being with Flav and I was doing Don't Believe the Hype. And I was typing out the lyrics and he said no, gee, I can do it. And he was like starts typing with like one finger. He was so great yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, no, let me ask you a question what was your? What was some of your favorite records during that period, from from Def Jam and just in general? Do you remember?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, well Slick Rick. Yeah, well, slick Rick. Great Adventures and Come On.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just at that record the other day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it still holds up.
Speaker 1:It holds up crazy.
Speaker 2:And PE, nation of Millions, just genius. And then later on third base like the Cactus album Joe.
Speaker 1:Hub, of course.
Speaker 2:LL when he did the like I. You know I wasn't a huge fan of Panther, but I thought that Mama Said Knock you Out was like a yeah yeah, I wasn't.
Speaker 1:I wasn't a fan of the Panther album, but there were a couple records on there. I just thought, like I still remember that record, fast Peg yeah, a couple of records I was. There was couple of records on there that was amazing, like as an album it was kind of. But then you look backwards and it was kind of visionary. You know, the album wasn't great because he was working with West Coast people, right, so he was kind of, you know, pushing the line and doing things that people do now like take for granted. He was doing that back then, you know.
Speaker 2:Right and for granted he was doing that back then, you know right, and and marley turned everything around. So yeah, which is great because I did a deal with him here.
Speaker 1:So it's all full circle, full circle. I'm sure you got a lot of full circles I got a lot of full circle moments give me, give me one before we move to columbia and nas and everything. Give me one crazy def jam story. Yeah, I know you, you got a billion of them, but give me one that doesn't incrimin. I know you got a billion of them, but give me one that doesn't incriminate anybody, or something like that, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I might have to come back to you on that, okay.
Speaker 1:We can do it. We can do it later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll come back to you. I'm trying to think there's so many, okay, fine.
Speaker 1:So as Def Jam started to grow, what was that like watching? You know this company that you started. You said five people and you guys had no air and no heat and it's cold. There's probably mice in there and all kind of shit yeah to like to grow into, like becoming what you know become coming a legit powerhouse record label. What was that? What was that like?
Speaker 2:um, for me it. You know, I'm a purist and I felt like what? What happened was is that rick left. As you know, he just moved, he just said to me he was going to la one day and he never came back.
Speaker 2:And so russell was was much more interested in starting a modeling agency and talking about a clothing line at that point, and there was this power vacuum there at depth jam, and that's when leor stepped in okay and that was difficult for me because we had the Rush Associated Labels situation which everybody was getting the label you want a label, you want a label, you want a label and slapping the Def Jam logo on it and I thought that it diluting the label Because if you went to Music Factory or you went to Tower Records or you went wherever you know, if you saw a Def Jam label you bought it.
Speaker 1:Immediately.
Speaker 2:Immediately, and that wasn't the case anymore and I felt like we were becoming too big and too unwieldy and that was kind of like you know, and when I made the decision, yeah, yeah, I remember that era because that's kind of when I started.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was like so everybody got a label and it was like bitches with problems and it was like all these kind of small kind of all the um, the Afros and all this kind of stuff and it was cool. But it wasn't like. It was like where's the heat? You know the heat.
Speaker 2:Right, it wasn't Def Jam.
Speaker 1:It wasn't Def Jam anymore, right, you know. So after you leave Def Jam, where do you go next?
Speaker 2:Columbia Records. Right back to Columbia.
Speaker 1:Full circle.
Speaker 2:Full circle, not as an intern this time, but as an A&R person, you know.
Speaker 1:Tell us about that.
Speaker 2:It basically like Lior and I famously just yeah, respectfully, not hard to do with him. No, and I just one day he accused my assistant of losing a cassette that was supposed to go to Todd to LL in. Los Angeles and it wasn't her fault. And he's screaming at me and I just get quiet, you know, and also just to for context. I mean I used to go to Columbia's A&R meetings as a representative of Def Jam.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I would go to their confabs that they had and they had a conference out in Montauk that I went to and stuff like that. So I was already kind of in the mix with Columbia and Donnie Einer, who is the president of Columbia Records, basically told me if you ever change your mind about me at Def Jam, you know, just give me a call. So I gave him a call.
Speaker 1:Just like that.
Speaker 2:Just like that.
Speaker 1:And for the people who don't know Def Jam, before they went to the Universal system, def Jam was distributed by Columbia Records. That's correct. So some people might not know that. So OK, so you give Donnie a call. He says come on board. Come on board, he's in our gig and you know, tells you to go do your thing. What was your first signing? Nas? Nas was the first signing. I didn't know if you guys signed anybody or not. I didn't know if you. You know because I didn't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, that was I literally had I signed. I was two weeks into being at Columbia, records, oh wow, I didn't realize it was that quick.
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Speaker 1:And now back to our show Wow. So tell us about the Nas Sada.
Speaker 2:The Nas Sada started when I was still at Def Jam and I had heard him like everybody else in live at the barbecue Flipped out, you know, like who is this kid and what the fuck?
Speaker 1:And slap boxing with Jesus.
Speaker 2:Slap. What the hell for snuffing Jesusesus. He said that you know, so I wanted to connect with him. So I knew large professor and large was, like you know, wanted me to talk to akineli first, like he felt like maybe Nas wasn't ready. You know, and long story, he did bring Paul, large and Nas came, came to see me at Def Jam but I had already left.
Speaker 1:Sorry, not to cut you off, but you are. I saw you are the only other person I know that calls large Paul besides me. I really I call him Paul. I've never called him larger first in my other person. I know that calls Large Paul besides me. Really, I call him Paul. I've never called him Large Professor in my life.
Speaker 2:I know I call him Paul you call him Paul, yeah, yeah. So you're a left Columbia. He is like the sweetheart of a man he is.
Speaker 1:He's a great dude, great dude, great dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I wasn't a dev jam. So anyway, he ended up doing the Back to the Grow with Search. And so I remember like, and then I'm talking to Tragedy, who's in Queensbridge. I'm like, can you bring me to meet this kid Nasty Knots? You know, somehow it just never. I went to Queensbridge, it just never happened. And so all this was going on, it was swirling around, and one day search comes to my office and he says the kid you've been looking for, I got his demo right here. Wow. And I said just wait here. You know, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1:Stay right here.
Speaker 2:Stay right here. And I went down the hall to the head of a and r, who's david khan, really great guy and I said to him you know, I know you may not know what this is, but if you don't let me sign anything the entire time I work here, you have to let me sign this guy. And he said okay, and I told search that it was in the evening and I told him that evening, you know, we're we're going to do the deal.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, so there was no battle, there was no like war for now.
Speaker 2:There were other people I know. Wow, I think it was a wild pitch.
Speaker 1:Maybe Cause cause. Remember main source was on wild pitch, so it probably main source was on wild pitch.
Speaker 2:So it probably exactly so. I know that they were. He was talking to wild pitch, but you know it's interesting that naz like I remember, you know from our first meeting, like he being at columbia records and seeing the people on the wall, the famous you know people from from the turn of the century to the 20s and 30s and 40s, like that really impressed him really yeah, he said that before that he was just like I didn't think he noticed, but he noticed and um, you know, I mean, he's such an old soul, it's like he wanted to be one of the greats
Speaker 2:he wanted to be one of the greats. So it it, it all. It all made sense and we had a really funny first meeting. He was, you know, he had his hoodie on and a bubble goose and he was like, you know, had his head down and he wasn't really. I mean, he was kind of talking a little, but not a lot. And then he raised his head and he was like, so you're like the woman in Wild Style. I was like no, yes, no.
Speaker 1:Kinda.
Speaker 2:Kinda, I'd like to think not. And then he laughed, you know, and that's what broke the ice, and it was, you know, it was a long haul. It took two and a half years to make nomadic.
Speaker 1:So so I wanted to talk about that because I mean, I it's so funny, like you know again, you know we again, you started before me, but kind of being in that same kind of era, there's so many now we're talking about this stuff which I don't know we've never talked about before. It's so many things that we were like right around each other not knowing like example, like I try I wanted to sign tragedy, you don't say. And I remember I tried to use demo and I called him and talk and there was all these other. This other guy on the tape was a tape and I was like who's the other guy, though he's kind of nice, and he was like that's my man, nori nori was on his demo. So it's all these things and like, so it's kind of all these. I worked a while, yeah, I worked a while pitching you just, you know. So it's kind of all these things coming together. So I'm saying that to say when you were in the process of making ilmatic, I was working a drive with q-.
Speaker 1:Wow I was hearing a lot about it. I wasn't hearing it, but I was hearing about it.
Speaker 1:Right and he was telling me about the process. And, again, I had my first job. My first group I worked with was Gangstar, so I knew Premier, okay, and then LES used to get his hair cut uptown. So it was all these things you know, know, it's all these kind of things that we were like we're having these parallel movements. So our q-tip was telling would tell us about nas and how nas was, how great this album was going to be. Yeah, and so tell me about the process of making our, because, again, there's only nine it's really good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we. We did it out of necessity because it was leaked the album was so out there already that we didn't have a choice but to get it out commercially and because, honestly, we would have probably done two more songs.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was everywhere. It was like worldwide leakage. It's why it didn't. You know, it took forever just to go gold. I mean, so many people had the record.
Speaker 1:I didn't remember that, wow, okay, okay. So the process of making that how did you decide to work with Q-Tip and Pete Rock and Premier?
Speaker 2:That was all Nas. Nas said I want the best of every New York producer. That was him 100%.
Speaker 1:He pulled that together.
Speaker 2:Yes, best of every New York producer, that was him, so he a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:He pulled that together.
Speaker 2:Yes. At 18 years old or whatever.
Speaker 1:Well, people were resistant because he was so young and new, or they just they believed in his talent.
Speaker 2:All they had to do was like hear him and be like, okay, you know did. I did have an incident where they were asking me to drop him from the label really tell us about that? Yes, um, when he put out halftime, he had his first show at a place called muse I'm gonna lose yeah, and it's funny because I didn't know this two years later, but what I was told at the time was that jungle, his brother left a gun in the grand car service car that I had called them grand car service grand car service to pick them up in queensbridge and bring them to use, and so so apparently the driver found the gun and went to the police and it was like a whole thing and jungle called up the precinct and screamed on them that he wanted his gun back.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was, it was, and then my illegal gun back. And then he's like then he's like calling people that the label at Columbia Records not me, but some other people and threatening them and just, you know, just going off on them. And you know, donnie Einer called me to his office and he was like you know, I can't have this shit. Like you know, I can't, this isn't how we operate. And I was like, well, where do you think he comes from?
Speaker 2:yeah he doesn't. He doesn't come from where you come from or I come from.
Speaker 1:It's a foreign land to him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and cause, cause he was like Donnie was like I'm not going to have this, Like I'm going to drop him for the label, kind of thing, and I just had to go in there and state my case and and the and the and the and. The PS to all of this is that about two years ago I was talking to Jungle and he was like no, no, no, no. I asked the driver to hold it for me.
Speaker 1:I just want him to hold it. I'll get to him later.
Speaker 2:Why could you hold this for me while I go in the club? Real quick.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you work on this record. You said two and a half years it took.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Two years or so. And when it drops, what's the response? The critical response to it.
Speaker 2:Oh, critical response was insane. I mean you know the first five mics and the source and you know I mean people just talking about him like he's like the Messiah, you know. I mean, how does somebody so young create lyrics like that? You know, it's just astounding. I mean, to this to this day, like I'll listen to new york state of mind and get like chills. I mean, yeah, you know what do you do?
Speaker 1:what do you think that was that that was coming from? Like I said to the kid, it was was 18 or so at the time. How was he able to do that?
Speaker 2:Well, he was really, really, really well-read and he was in a musical family because of his father. His mother stressed education, like Naz will just say. He always had all these books in the house, a million different topics, and would read them. He was special he is special.
Speaker 1:Well, it is, yeah, it's special. Yeah, so you have the success from that especially over 50 years old now.
Speaker 2:So yeah, exactly, but now he's turned into like a venture capitalist, which is incredible he is that and he's that as well you know, I'm just yeah, and I want to say, because this was like I guess last year, the year before, there was an event and I went to the event at photographista, whatever it's called jungle and snacks, and these other guys were all hanging out like outside and they were like thank you, faith, you saved our lives. I was like you did that shit like hit me hard and I started crying.
Speaker 1:I bet that shit's real, though, like if it wasn't for this, you know, there weren't many options.
Speaker 2:No, and they lost I mean, a lot of the. If you look at the album artwork um, the picture of the guys sitting on the park bench, they're either all dead or in jail. Damn like, I'd like, like, like, every single one damn yeah damn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, so you have that, this, this amazing success with naz and I didn't know this, I read this so you worked with jamar aqua next I signed your miracle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know this. I read this, so you worked with.
Speaker 1:Jamar Kwai. Next, I signed Jamar Kwai. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people don't know that, but yeah, tell us about that um, it's pretty simple really.
Speaker 2:I I was friends with somebody who was friends with this guy, kieran Hurley from Acid Jazz Records. She asked if Kieran could come see me at Columbia and so he came to see me. He had a one song, demo of this song when you Gonna Learn, and I thought it was a woman singing. I couldn't tell, you know, but something just struck me about it and I was just like he is incredible, I have to know more. And I told David and I said, look, I'm going to go to London. It was a week before Christmas.
Speaker 2:I said I'm going to go to London to meet him because this, you know, just this one, all for this one song. And I went to London and I met him and I met the other people Eddie, eddie Pillar from Acid Jazz and so Acid Jazz wanted to do like a label situation with Columbia and we didn't end up doing that. But I think why people don't know that I signed him when I did was because it was a British act, and so they decided, tommy and Donnie decided it needed to be signed through the UK office. And so with this guy, lincoln, did you know Lincoln, elias?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:He was A&R at Sovo Squared, which was Sony's London, you know. Okay, which was Sony's London, you know.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean Eddie wrote about me in his book and you know, and you know, anybody from Jamiroquai will tell you that you know. I was there, you know.
Speaker 1:It kind of got overshadowed by the UK office. Yeah, because I I fell for it. I thought it came out of the uk. I had no idea you were involved in it.
Speaker 2:No, it's all. And you know what? What's really funny is like lincoln and I got into it once. He was in new york and he's like, well, maybe you just want the kudos.
Speaker 1:I'm like damn right, I do yeah, what else we got, besides getting played?
Speaker 2:your backyard and you, you didn't, you know, I met with acid jazz, which was like five minutes from Sony's office, you know so.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. What are you?
Speaker 2:going to do.
Speaker 1:So you leave. So what made you decide to leave Columbia?
Speaker 2:What made me decide to leave Columbia? That's a good question. I just Decide to leave Columbia? That's a good question. I just I felt like I wanted to go back to a smaller label again, Like I was missing, like the Def Jam days.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And I wasn't. I was kind of disillusioned with the you know the whole Sony system, and I wanted to go back to a smaller label again.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so where did you go after that?
Speaker 2:Jive Records.
Speaker 1:Jive Records where we worked together.
Speaker 2:We did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and tell me about your Jive experience.
Speaker 2:It was tough, jeff, you know. I mean I came in as Britney, backstreet Boys and NSYNC were exploding.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And you know groups like UGK or people like E-40 or Spice One or Too Short. Too Short, Mystical, Like I think they all felt overlooked. Would you agree with that?
Speaker 1:I agree with that 100%. No, 100%. I mean, like you said, you know, obviously I had been there before you and so we had those artists and Tribe and blah, blah, blah, krs, and they literally built the company brick by brick. Yeah, and then Clive called the who's the genius and I'm not saying the genius, yes, absolutely. It doesn't need to be disrespectful at all but he decided to. He had a long-term plan of selling the company which we didn't know about, and so he decided to shift and go pop. He signed the Backstreet Boys, who were initially on Mercury Records, and he picked them up and then they started. They fucking exploded.
Speaker 1:And then he signed, I think NSYNC was next. They actually were on RCA Records at first A lot of people don't remember that and he got them and obviously they exploded. And then he found this girl from Louisiana named Britney Spears and then she exploded and all of a sudden, money is like literally raining down. It's so much money from those acts coming in, so much money. It was unbelievable that the acts that we mentioned just now definitely felt overlooked and were being overlooked. I remember being in those meetings, the marketing meetings, and if somebody went like gold it was like next, like it was like only gold, because people were selling 10 million albums, so like, and things were like selling 600,000 albums, which is a lot, you know, which is a good money, a way to really build and hold a company yeah, but you know that's 15 million, you know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so it was exactly so, you already know what the story was there, I I was.
Speaker 2:My timing was not good. Um, you know, I do. I do remember. One funny story is is barry telling me I had to go to houston to get ugk's album to listen to their you know, and fucking jay prince yeah was in the hotel, like like stationed somebody in the parking lot of the hotel to like follow me. Mm-hmm, I mean I know it sounds right, right, no no, that's. Yeah, but I do remember having dinner with Chad and Mama Wes, and them taking me to a very fancy steakhouse.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, let me ask a question. I don't think I've ever asked you this how was it being this? You know, white girl from Philly was totally entrenched in black music, like like legitimately, it wasn't like you were, you weren't doing as a, a fan like this is who you really are. I know you to know this is who this is who you are, so it's sincere. But how was that? Uh, how was that? You know we're dealing with maybe other your white kind of parts of you and your black. How was that?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's funny, jeff and I I could be. You know, maybe I'm naive, but I never really had an issue. I never had somebody call me out and say, you don't know, because you're a white girl, I mean I had like nasa's jokey joke about me. That was funny, you know. But I think you know because I was there early on, because I was you know, you could find me at the Latin Quarter, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, in it, in it for real.
Speaker 2:I just, yeah, I don't know. I mean I don't know what people said beyond my back, obviously, but to my face, I never really got into it with anybody. Good, yeah, good.
Speaker 1:I think it's because people could sense immediately that it's sincere, right, yes, and your love for Black music is real. It's not like just a kind of fly-by-night thing. Right, and because you never really left, you know you're gonna be doing, I'm gonna go work at, you know, with some pop rock label now and do this like you never really left the culture music, you're true to it, and I think people could see that it's like, okay, she might have I don't know, but you might have opportunities to do other things. But you was like, nah, this is my shit and I want to do what I could do with my shit and help people and stuff, exactly.
Speaker 2:And by doing publishing deals that I've done with the Isley brothers, with, say, confunction, with Willie Mitchell, with Birdie and White, with the Commodores. That's like my heart right there. So, I've been able to have great dialogue with them. Be extra fair with them, you know, because they're at a time in their life when they really would like to just cash out you know yeah. But to make sure they understand exactly what that means. You know, yeah, I've just continued to kind of do that. Yeah, I want to get into that.
Speaker 1:We're going to get do that? Yeah, I want to get into that. I'm going to, we're going to get to that next, but I, I want to talk into you. I just remember I don't know. You remember I was asking you. You remember you threw this great birthday party.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:In the hotel I was cause. I remember Dan Charnas was there. Was it the New York Hotel? I?
Speaker 2:had a birthday party.
Speaker 1:We've had a birthday party Maybe I mean I'm going to have to go now.
Speaker 2:I used to have birthday parties, but my 21st was epic.
Speaker 1:No I wasn't there, that was before me, but I don't think I'm getting mixed up, because I met this girl named Baby Blue there, oh, that party. You remember, there you go.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, that was 2013.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was a great party, man, that was a great fucking party. Yeah, I had it at the top of this hotel in this dope-ass suite.
Speaker 2:I didn't pay a dime for that whole thing.
Speaker 1:That's unbelievable. That was a great party.
Speaker 2:They wanted. You know, two chains came, they wanted, they wanted celebrities in there and you know. So it was like a promotion for them Exactly For me to have that party.
Speaker 1:That was a good party. That was a good party. So tell us about Reservoir and what you've done and what you're doing now, because this is a really interesting you were. We were talking before the show and I said that you were really uh, ahead of the curve with what you started at reservoir and what's happening now with, like you said, setting artists and producers up to maybe cash out on a catalog, and people weren't really doing that when you first started no, they weren't.
Speaker 2:We were really early I got to I started at in 2011. So it's been 14 years, wow. And you know, I just I don't know how. I mean, I knew that there was something about catalogs of old stuff that was, you know, worth a lot, but it also had to be equitable to the people who were selling. That was my thing. So the first deal that I did was for a record label called Philly Groove and the biggest artists on that label were the Delphonics and First Choice, wow. So I got to know the Hart brothers the one william was still alive, wilbert and we made it. We made them whole because the original deal, we had copies of the original contracts and they were just like I'm sure they were terrible.
Speaker 2:Terrible. The royalty raids just awful, yeah, you know, and we wanted to make it right with them and we redid the deal with Wilbert going forward, and so that was the first. Well, the first thing I signed actually was 2 Chainz in 2012. And that was before he dropped his first album.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Not Player Circle, but or this was was like his. He had put out the three mixtapes true, and all that stuff yeah, exactly. And then it was really funny because I was like a lot of people were vying to sign him and I talked to his manager, to this guy, coach tech, and he's like, well, he wants to meet you. And I said, great. So we went to meet him and we're standing outside the hotel just talking and he's like you signed Nas right.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Two chains. I'm like really, he's like, he's my favorite, I want to sign with you. I'm like cool, wow. Well, that's how that happened. That's amazing. And then you know, I've done a lot of deals with philly writers norman harris, alan felder. You know, like I said, you know we did a big deal with the osley brothers, so, and I'm close with ron now, which is like a dream come true for me, you know, and um, he's still doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's still rolling. He's got a young wife, so that keeps him.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it helps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you know I've signed just a ton of stuff here, you know, from artists. I like doing the catalog deals a lot.
Speaker 3:Why is?
Speaker 2:that I like preserving the history. I think it's important and I think it's important that the music continue to live on, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite deals that I did was with Willie Mitchell.
Speaker 1:Wow, is that Drake's uncle? No, no, like Graham. That Drake's uncle? No, no Like Graham is Drake's uncle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, willie Mitchell wrote all the Al Green great Al Green stuff. Just knowing that we have these things here is really amazing.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're doing good work.
Speaker 2:I think so. I think I am, and we'll continue to. The space has gotten very crowded.
Speaker 1:Very.
Speaker 2:I mean I was supposed to go see. Can I say who I was supposed to go see? I guess I can. I was on my way to see George Benson. Say who I was supposed to go see? I guess I can. I was on my way to see George Benson in Scottsdale, Arizona. Okay, the day before he was supposed to leave, he signed a deal with Harvard View. Wow, there's a lot of players right now. A lot of players. You have to really, really really be on top of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to really really really be on top of it, yeah, and ready to like really open the chef book, cause it's, it's. There's a lot of players right now.
Speaker 1:But I yeah, I mean I don't have to tell you this, I think you're one of your advantages will be some of those rappers from the lady from the eighties and the nineties. Cause of your relationships, cause those guys are stuff.
Speaker 2:It's a burning deal with Marley, so that was he didn't deal with KG.
Speaker 1:Yep, oh, that was a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because KG's stuff like he is absolutely one of the most underrated producers ever. I'm like this dude has done so much stuff that still plays Like I heard Naughty Gun a commercial yesterday, oh yeah, has done so much stuff that still plays like I heard Naughty Gun a commercial yesterday, like all the time, but nobody ever talked about him as one of the greats. I'm like, dude, this guy was doing hard body rap hits and R&B hits and R&B sub Jean A.
Speaker 2:I mean come on.
Speaker 1:Puffy Brown and Next.
Speaker 2:And like he's amazing, jaheim, he's incredible and he's a hell of a nice guy he's important to me because I can't deal with. I have a no asshole policy. I can't.
Speaker 1:I respect that.
Speaker 2:I respect that I can't, I can't, I just don't. I've been doing it too long and I just don't have the patience yeah, the patience, yeah. I mean there's a little. There's some rappers that I've signed that that are can be difficult, but it's also about the people that are around them, you know managers and lawyers and stuff like that to keep you know. So yeah, Cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, Faith Newman.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Sledge.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate this.
Speaker 2:Of course I was happy to do it.
Speaker 1:You can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend I'm your host, jeffrey Sledge. Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios.
