First Priority Music (FPM) was an American hip hop record label of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which later released

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

, among others. A small independent, it formed distribution relationships first with Atlantic Records, and later on with Jive/Zomba. First Priority was founded by Nat Robinson in 1987, to release music by his son Kirk better known as Milk Dee of Audio Two. FPM's first release was Audio Two's "Make It Funky"/"

Top Billin' "Top Billin'" is a single for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, released as the B-side of the single "Make It Funky" from the album '' What More Can I Say?'' It was released before First Priority Music inked a distribution deal with Atlantic Reco ...

", which was successful enough to secure the label a distribution deal with Atlantic Records. MC Lyte's debut album ''

Lyte as a Rock ''Lyte as a Rock'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop recording artist MC Lyte. It was released in May 1988, via First Priority and Atlantic Records, and featured production from Audio Two, Prince Paul, King of Chill and his group ...

'' (1988) was followed by her records, ''

Eyes on This ''Eyes on This'' is the second studio album American hip hop recording artist MC Lyte. It was released on October 3, 1989, via First Priority and Atlantic Records, and featured production from Audio Two, as well as Grand Puba, The King of Chil ...

'' (1989) and '' Act Like You Know'' (1991). "Ruffneck", from 1993's '' Ain't No Other'', was the first gold single by a solo female rap artist. Other members of the hip hop roster of the period include

Positive K Positive K (sometimes stylized as +K) (born Darryl Gibson on August 9, 1967) is an American MC and songwriter from the Bronx, New York City, New York, and one of the original artists of the First Priority Music camp. He is best known for his hi ...

Michie Mee Michelle McCullock (born November 1, 1970), better known by her stage name Michie Mee, is a Canadian rapper and actress. Canada's first notable female MC, she is considered a national hip-hop pioneer. Early life and career McCullock was born i ...

, Alliance, Kings of Swing, and Barsha. A compilation featuring FPM artists, '' The First Priority Music Family: Basement Flavor'', was released by the label in 1988. A short-lived sub-label called Bum Rush was distributed by Atlantic then-sister label

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

from 1989 to 1991. Recent years saw releases by Jason Downs and the 2004 single by Eamon called "

Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Eamon. The song was co-written by Eamon, Kirk Robinson and Mark Passy. It was released on November 10, 2003, as the lead single from his debut album, ''I Don't ...

," which were released through Jive/Zomba.

Artists

* Alliance * Audio Two *

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rap music, rapper, Disc jockey, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 19 ...

Eamon (singer) Eamon Doyle (born September 19, 1983), better known by his mononym Eamon, is an American singer and songwriter. He is mainly known for his 2003 hit single "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)". Some of the songs written by Eamon are in a style cal ...

Proven Innocent ''Proven Innocent'' is an American legal drama television series created by David Elliot, which premiered on February 15, 2019, on Fox. The series follows the employees of a wrongful conviction law firm and stars Rachelle Lefevre, Russell Horns ...

Jason Downs Jason Wright Downs (born September 8, 1973, in Columbia, Maryland) is an American actor and singer. He has released two albums on Jive Records, ''White Boy with a Feather'' and ''The Spin''. He also released "White Boy with a Feather", "Revenue", ...

Mekhi Phifer Mekhi Phifer (; born December 29, 1974) is an American actor. He portrayed Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama '' ER'' until 2008 and had a co-starring role opposite actor/rapper Eminem in the 2002 feature film '' 8 Mile''. He was ...

References

*Peter Shapiro, ''Rough Guide to Hip-Hop'', 2nd ed., Rough Guides; London, 2005 (p. 18, pp. 253–254). *Simon Price, "Rock and Pop", '' The Independent Sunday'', June 24, 2001. *https://www.abc-7.com/story/41138393/hip-hops-first-priority-music-hits-reset-button-announces-expansion

External links

Official site
American independent record labels Hip hop record labels Atlantic Records {{US-record-label-stub