As one of many rap recreation’s most well-known A&Rs, Steven “Steve-O” Carless, President of A&R, Related Labels, Black Music at Warner Information and Founding father of Defiant Information, Inc., has labored with a number of the rap’s largest artists. On this episode of XXL‘s Inside Observe podcast, Steve-O displays on working with Nipsey Hussle, discusses the state of rap and speaks on who he sees turning into the subsequent huge celebrity.
A veteran A&R govt, Steven oversaw the careers of a lot of hip-hop’s most illustrious figureheads together with Nipsey Hussle, Jeezy, YG, Dave East and extra. As a former A&R govt for Republic Information, Senior Vice President of A&R and Artist Relations for Common Music Group, and Vice President of A&R for Def Jam Recordings, Steve-O utilized his skills on Nipsey’s debut album, Victory Lap, incomes Steve-O his first Grammy nomination for Album of the Yr.
“What [Nipsey] was studying as he was creating not solely as a inventive artist but in addition as a enterprise entrepreneur on the opposite facet made a singular dynamic that…was positively an innovation in that new technology,” Steve-) says of Nipsey’s work ethic. “Everybody was making an attempt to get on the radio and we was making an attempt to promote CDs.”
In 2021, Steve-O earned a Greatest Music Video Grammy award for “Brown Pores and skin Lady” after he additionally co-A&R’d Beyoncé’s 2019 The Lion King: The Present album. The identical 12 months, he was appointed the President of A&R at Warner Information and launched his personal label Defiant Information in partnership with Warner in 2023. With all of those accolades serving because the wind at his again, the reality of his success story is that he in the present day’s artists to simply as excessive a regular as he does himself.
“Are you able to do the work? Are you gonna go to rehearsals daily seven days per week?” Steve-O asks. “Are you gonna present up on time? Are you organized? Are you prepared to deal with your physique? Are you prepared to deal with your voice? It is not about simply going to the studio and giving me a music video. Are you actually ready? Do you could have the drive?”
XXL is again with one other episode of Inside Observe, a biweekly podcast that spends time with some of hip-hop’s most influential trade executives, entrepreneurs and extra. Hosted by XXL Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten and music govt Courtney “Courtney CL” Lowery, every episode will proceed to discover hip-hop by way of the eyes of people that have lived and breathed the tradition.
Watch or hearken to the second episode of XXL‘s Inside Observe podcast beneath. The podcast might be discovered on xxlmag.com, XXL’s YouTube web page and on most podcast platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and XXL Stay.
Watch XXL‘s Inside Observe Podcast With Steven “Steve-O” Carless
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