Sleeping Bag Records was a New York City-based

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

founded by musician Arthur Russell and entrepreneur Will Socolov. It was active between 1981 and 1992, and specialized in

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

Background and history

The label was founded in 1981 initially to release singles produced by Arthur Russell under his various dance aliases. Their first release was the Dinosaur L album '' 24→24 Music'' (1981). The label's roster would eventually include

Mantronix Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro (music), electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by Disc jockey#Hip Hop DJs, DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel) and rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden). The group is ...

, Just-Ice,

Nice & Smooth Nice & Smooth is an East Coast hip hop duo from New York City that consists of Gregory O. "Greg Nice" Mays (born May 30, 1967) and Darryl O. "Smooth B" Barnes (born August 3, 1965). The duo released four albums between 1989 and 1997. Their firs ...

T La Rock Terrence Ronnie Keaton known by the stage name T La Rock, (born September 16, 1961) is an American old school hip hop, old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 in music, 1984 Si ...

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is an initialism for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mi ...

and Stezo; freestyle vocalists Nocera and Kariya (" Let Me Love You for Tonight"); and R&B singer-songwriter Joyce Sims. In 1983, Juggy Gayles began promoting singles for the company. Later, he became a partner. The label's corporate

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

was a

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

of a

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

. Sub-label Fresh Records was founded in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Kurtis Mantronik Kurtis el Khaleel (born Graham Curtis el Khaleel, September 4, 1965), known by the stage name Kurtis Mantronik, is a Jamaican-born hip hop and electronic musician, DJ, remixer, and producer. He was the leader, DJ, and keyboardist of the influent ...

, in addition to being the musician of the hip-hop duo Mantronix, worked for the label in an A&R capacity. After folding in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, the Sleeping Bag catalog sat in limbo for several years. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, the label and its catalog were purchased by

Warlock Records Warlock Records is a record label based in New York City that was founded in 1985 by Adam Levy (born 1962), whose father was record producer Morris Levy. Artists that recorded for Warlock Records include Jungle Brothers, Royal House, Skinny Boys ...

, which has since been re-releasing its titles with the Sleeping Bag and Fresh logos alongside the Warlock Records logo. The building in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

where the label had its headquarters was torn down in the 1990s, and a luxury apartment building now stands in its place. In 2006, the label became one of many imprints’ catalogs that became Traffic Entertainment Group, which has been releasing new versions of the classic albums in Sleeping Bag’s catalog with their original artwork intact.

In popular culture

rhymed about its record-signing experience with sub-label Fresh Records in the song "Please Listen to My Demo" from its

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

'' Unfinished Business'' album. * Label partner Juggy Gayles was crank-called by

the Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York (state), New York, whose routine consisted of Prank call, prank telephone calls and other related Sketch comedy, skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends ...

on "The Hucklebuck" track from 1999's '' Stop Staring at Me!'' album. Gayles was the publisher of the original version of "The Hucklebuck," released by Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers in 1949.

References

{{Authority control

Sleeping Bag Records Sleeping Bag Records was a New York City-based independent record label founded by musician Arthur Russell (musician), Arthur Russell and entrepreneur Will Socolov. It was active between 1981 and 1992, and specialized in dance music and hip hop. ...

1981 establishments in New York (state) 1992 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York City American companies established in 1981 American companies disestablished in 1992

Background and history

In popular culture

See also

References