SinceThe80s is an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, and publishing company founded by Barry "Hefner" Johnson, Kei Henderson, and Zekiel "Zeke" Nicholson, based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The label is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

, a subsidiary of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

History

Barry "Hefner" Johnson started in the music industry from marketing and promotion with

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

, promoting

artists such as

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Records, Warner Bros ...

and

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...

. In 2014, Kei Henderson met

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two ...

during the annual Atlanta hip-hop festival, A3C, and became his manager, while Johnson and Zekiel Nicholson co-manage

JID Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper. He is a part of the musical collective Spillage Village, founded by EarthGang in 2010, with Hollywood JB, JordxnBrya ...

and

EarthGang EarthGang (stylized EARTHGANG) is an American hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia, composed of Olu (aka Johnny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dot – born Eian Parker). They are co-founders of the musical collective Spillage Village, with JID, H ...

, who both signed with Dreamville in 2017. They made the progression from management to label executives since they already take on those responsibilities as managers, and launched SinceThe80s. Henderson told ''Billboard'', "I realized how much I was doing on my own, everything from merch design, web design, staffing a team ndhiring radio." In an interview with ''Billboard'', they said the label is envisioned "as a collaborative brand that seeks to find and nurture the next wave of superstars from the culture hub of Atlanta." In 2019, the founders of label played an intricate part in Dreamville's recording sessions for the compilation album ''

Revenge of the Dreamers III ''Revenge of the Dreamers III'' is the third compilation album by American record label Dreamville, released on July 5, 2019, by Dreamville and Interscope Records. ''Revenge of the Dreamers III'' includes contributions from Dreamville artists, ...

''. Johnson and Nicholson convinced

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...

to host the studio sessions at Tree Sound Studios in

instead of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. Every artist on the label was invited to the sessions in Atlanta with the goal of fostering connections with other artists that attended. Johnson says Cole has "always been supportive" of SinceThe80s and has relationships with other Atlanta-based labels such as

Love Renaissance Love Renaissance (LVRN) is an American record label and management company founded by Carlon Ramong, Justice Baiden, Junia Abaidoo, Sean Famoso McNichol and Tunde Balogun, and based in Atlanta, Georgia. The label is currently distributed through ...

. The label houses artists

Njomza Njomza Vitia (; ; born 22 April 1994), known professionally as Njomza, is an American singer and songwriter. She is currently signed with Capitol Records, Capitol, Motown Records, Motown, and SinceThe80s. Since 2013, she has released one mixtape ...

, Hardo, Asiahn, and Jordan Hawkins. In 2020, the label added Metro Marrs to the roster who signed a joint deal with Quality Control, as well as Benji who is part of the collective

Spillage Village Spillage Village is an American musical collective from Atlanta, Georgia. The group is composed of rappers, singers and producers, and was founded by the members of EarthGang. Spillage Village was primarily made up of five initial members with ...

. The also house producers Christo, Malik Baptiste, Tommy Brown, and Pyrex.

Publishing

District 80 Publishing is an American

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

part of SinceThe80s. The company published number 1 singles such as

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

's "

Thank U, Next ''Thank U, Next'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Ariana Grande, released on February 8, 2019, by Republic Records. It was released six months after her fourth studio album ''Sweetener'' (2018), conceived in the midst of Grande's ...

", "

7 Rings "7 Rings" (stylised in all lowercase) is a song by American singer Ariana Grande, from her fifth studio album ''Thank U, Next''. It was released as the album's second single on January 18, 2019, through Republic Records. The song was written by ...

", and " Positions", co-written by Tommy Brown and Njomza, "Better Off" and "Make Up", co-written by Malik Baptiste.

Roster

Current artists

Management

SoFaygo Andre Dontrel Burt Jr. (born October 3, 2001), known professionally as SoFaygo (formerly stylized as $oFaygo), is an American rapper and singer. In 2020, Burt released the ''Angelic 7'' mixtape, which was produced by friend and fellow rapper Lil ...

* Mike Dimes

In-house producers

* Christo * Malik Baptiste * Tommy Brown * Pyrex

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

References

{{Authority control American record labels Contemporary R&B record labels Hip hop record labels Record labels established in 2018 Music publishing companies of the United States