Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American

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 ...

. Specializing in

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- ...

and R&B artists, TDE is based in

Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...

. The label was founded in 2004 by record producer Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. His son, Anthony "Moosa" Tiffith Jr., and Terrence "Punch" Henderson are the

presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *''Præsidenten ...

of the label. TDE concentrates on artist management, publishing and merchandising, and has worked with the " Big Three" record companies (

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

, and

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) for distribution ventures. The label also oversees subsidiaries such as TDE Films and their sports agency. The label is most notable for being the label that represented

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, who was signed from 2005-2022, as he rose to stardom. There are currently twelve artists signed to TDE; flagship artists include

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her diaristic lyrics and genre explorations, she has been credited as a prominent figure in influencing contemporary R& ...

Doechii Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon (born August 14, 1998), known professionally as Doechii ( ), is an American rapper and singer. Her songs became viral videos on TikTok in 2021 and she signed recording contracts with Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol Recor ...

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1985), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. Rock signed with local independent label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2005. He secured a major lab ...

Ab-Soul Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987), better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American rapper. Raised in Carson, California, he signed to indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2007, where he eventually formed We ...

Schoolboy Q Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (stylized as ScHoolboy Q), is an American rapper. He began recording in 2007, and released his first two mixtapes, ''ScHoolboy Turned Hustla'' (2008) and '' ...

History

2004–2007: Foundation

Top Dawg Entertainment was founded in 2004 by Anthony Tiffith, a record producer who previously worked with rappers The Game and Juvenile, among others. After his uncle found success as a manager for singer

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, whose single "

I Belong to You (Every Time I See Your Face) "I Belong to You (Every Time I See Your Face)" is a song co-written and performed by American contemporary R&B singer Rome. It is the opening track on his eponymous debut album and was issued as the album's first single. The song is Rome's bigge ...

" was a major hit, Tiffith began scouting local talent as an escape from the street life of his

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), a list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Albie Watts, a fictional character in the British soap opera ''EastEnders'' *Angie ...

neighborhood. He built a recording studio, dubbed it "House of Pain", and established the record label based on his nickname, Top Dawg. TDE's first signing was

, who joined the label in 2005. Two weeks after his acquisition,

was signed to the label. In 2007, TDE signed

, while rapper Terrence "Punch" Henderson and record producer

Dave Free David Isaac Friley (born November 13, 1986), known professionally as Dave Free, is an American filmmaker and record producer. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, he is best known as the manager and creative partner of fellow California ...

assumed the role as

of the label. Jay Rock signed

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 ...

contracts with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

and

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...

, but left after the labels failed to properly distribute his debut album '' Follow Me Home'' (2011).

2008–2013: Joint ventures and breakthrough

The label released their first compilation mixtape, ''Do It Nigga Squad, Volume 1'', in May 2008, which featured appearances from

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

and

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

, who had been affiliated with the label since 2006, signed with TDE in 2009. Before signing, the four rappers created the hip hop supergroup

Black Hippy Black Hippy was an American hip hop supergroup In March 2012, ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' reported that TDE closed a joint venture deal with

Aftermath Entertainment Aftermath Entertainment is an American record label founded by hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre in 1996. It operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed through Interscope Records. The label's roster includes artists ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

. Under the agreement, Lamar signed to Aftermath and Interscope, while Schoolboy Q joined Interscope. TDE partnered with

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

for their Music Matters Tour in July, and held its first "appreciation week" for their fans in August. Lamar's second studio album, ''

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' (stylized as ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'') is the second studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Interscope Records, Top Dawg Entertainment and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Enter ...

'' , was released in October 2012 and debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart and earned the highest first-week sales of the year by a male rapper. It later became the first hip hop studio album to spend ten consecutive years on the ''Billboard'' 200. On August 15, 2013, singer-songwriter

signed with TDE, becoming the first female artist to join the label. The label announced the signing of rapper

Isaiah Rashad Isaiah Rashad Joel McClain (born May 16, 1991) is an American rapper. He first gained recognition following his performances on the 2012 Smoker's Club Tour alongside rappers Juicy J, Joey Badass and Smoke DZA. He is a founding member of the Chat ...

on September 20, after publications reported on his acquisition in June. Lamar, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Rashad were featured in a TDE cypher at the

2013 BET Hip Hop Awards The 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards was held on October 15, 2013 at Atlanta Civic Center in the ATL. Snoop Dogg was the event's host for the first time. Kendrick Lamar leads the nominations with 14. Drake had the second most at 13, while J. Cole picked ...

2014–2017: Signings and recognition

At the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid co ...

(January 2014), ''Good Kid, M.A.A.D City'' earned seven nominations, including for

Best Rap Album The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories ...

and Album of the Year. Tiffith announced that TDE would be releasing six projects in 2014, beginning with Rashad's debut album ''

Cilvia Demo ''Cilvia Demo'' (also referred to as ''Cilvia'') is the debut mixtape by American rapper Isaiah Rashad. It was released on January 28, 2014, by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). The mixtape features guest appearances from Jean Deaux and Michael Da Vin ...

''. Schoolboy Q released his third album ''

Oxymoron An oxymoron (plurals: oxymorons and oxymora) is a figure of speech that Juxtaposition, juxtaposes concepts with opposite meanings within a word or in a phrase that is a self-contradiction (disambiguation), self-contradiction. As a rhetorical de ...

'' on February 25, while SZA released her third extended play '' Z'' on April 8. ''Oxymoron'' earned the biggest first-week streams of 2014 on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

(3.3 million). Ab-Soul released his third album, '' These Days...'', on June 24. ''

To Pimp a Butterfly ''To Pimp a Butterfly'' is the third studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on March 15, 2015, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was recorded in studios throughout ...

'' (2015), Lamar's third album, became TDE's first project to debut atop the ''Billboard'' 200 and set Spotify's global first-day streaming record (9.6 million). It won five awards at the

58th Annual Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 201 ...

, including Best Rap Album. TDE previewed releases from the roster on February 29, 2016, and hinted at signing new artists. Singer and rapper

Lance Skiiiwalker Lance Howard, better known by his stage name Lance Skiiiwalker, is an American singer, rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and his debut album, '' Introverted Intuition'', was released in ...

signed to the label on May 20, and released his debut album '' Introverted Intuition'' on October 18. On January 19, 2017, TDE announced the signing of singer

SiR ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

. Lamar's fourth album, '' DAMN.'', spent four nonconsecutive weeks atop the ''Billboard'' 200 and yielded TDE's first number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, " Humble". SZA signed a joint recording contract with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on April 28, and her debut studio album, '' Ctrl'', debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200.

2018–present: Spotify criticisms and Lamar's departure

''Damn'' won five awards at the

60th Annual Grammy Awards The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 28, 2018. The CBS network broadcast the show live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was moved to January to avoid coinciding with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongch ...

(January 2018), including for Best Rap Album. ''Ctrl'' received four nominations at the ceremony, including for

Best Urban Contemporary Album The Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for high quality works on albums in the urban contemporary subgenre within the R&B field. Honors in several categories are presented ...

. SiR released his second album, ''

November November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. November was the ninth month of the calendar of Romulus . November retained its name (from the Latin ''novem'' meaning " ...

'', on January 19. On February 9, TDE released '' Black Panther: The Album'', the soundtrack album for the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

superhero film ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

''. It was curated and executive produced by Lamar and Tiffith. From May to June, artists embarked on TDE's first full-label tour,

The Championship Tour The Championship Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by the independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment. The tour featured artists Kendrick Lamar, SZA, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Sir, and Lance Skiiiwalker. The tour began in Vancouver ...

. During the tour, Tiffith and Lamar entered into a publicized dispute with Spotify over their Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy, which removed artists such as

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion gai ...

and

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), known as R. Kelly, is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames suc ...

from their editorial and algorithmic playlists due to their respective legal issues. Tiffith, along with Henderson, claimed that the policy promoted

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

, and threatened to pull TDE's catalog from the platform if they kept the policy as it stood. Spotify reversed their policy in response to the criticism and reinstated XXXTentacion's music back onto playlists after other artists followed suit in threatening to pull their musical works. Jay Rock signed a joint contract with Interscope Records, and released his third album ''Redemption'' on June 15, 2018. Rapper

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

joined the label on August 8. On January 25, 2019, TDE announced the signing of singer

Zacari Zacari Moses Pacaldo I (born April 8, 1994), known mononymously as Zacari, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his guest appearance on American rapper and Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate Ke ...

, who has been affiliated with the label since 2017. He released his first extended play, ''Run Wild Run Free'', on March 15. Schoolboy Q released his fifth album, ''

Crash Talk ''Crash Talk'' (stylized as ''CrasH Talk'') is the fifth studio album by American rapper Schoolboy Q, released on April 26, 2019, through Top Dawg Entertainment and distributed by Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Tra ...

'', on April 26. SiR signed a joint contract with RCA Records and released his third album ''Chasing Summer'' on August 30. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' reported that Dave Free left the label in October 2019; his position as co-president was later succeeded by Tiffith's son, Anthony "Moosa" Tiffith Jr. After rumors emerged of his departure in 2020, Lamar confirmed that he was producing his final album under TDE on August 20, 2021. Five days later, the label announced the signing of rapper Ray Vaughn, who began working with them in 2020. On March 31, 2022, TDE partnered with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

and signed rapper

. She is the first female rapper to join the label. SZA's second studio album, ''

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

'' (2022), broke several ''Billboard'' chart records and spawned TDE's second number-one single "

Kill Bill ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a group of assassins ( Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael ...

Other ventures

Philanthropy

TDE has held their annual Christmas concert and toy drive in

Nickerson Gardens Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development in Los Angeles. Location The complex occupies the blocks ...

since 2014. The concerts featured performances by the roster, and included guest appearances from

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

, and

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

. In February 2018, the label and Interscope Records purchased five screenings of ''Black Panther'' in three theaters to allow 1,000 children from three Watts public housing complexes to view the film for free. In the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Tiffith paid the rent of over 300 families in Los Angeles' public housing developments.

Sports

TDE established a sports division agency in January 2018, led by agent Faddie Mikhail. American football player

Derrius Guice Derrius Guice ( ; born June 21, 1997) is an American former professional American football, football running back. He played college football for the LSU Tigers football, LSU Tigers, where he was the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC ...

became the first athlete to sign with the agency.

TDE Films

On November 8, 2016, TDE announced the creation of their film production company TDE Films, and began looking for writers, producers, and directors. For their work on Lamar's "

Alright Alright, All Right or Allwright may refer to: Music Albums * ''Alright!'' (album), a 2007 album by Bogdan Raczynski * ''Alright'', a 2011 album by Jerry Williams * ''All Right'', a 1982 album by Himiko Kikuchi Songs * "Alright" (Cast song) * ...

" and "Humble", the division has won the

Grammy Award for Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. ...

twice.

Artists

Current acts

Former acts

In-house producers

Current

* Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith *

Willie B Willie B. ( – February 2, 2000) was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Zoo of Atlanta for 39 years, from 1961 until his death on February 2, 2000. He was named after the former mayor of Atlanta, William Berry Hartsfield. Willie B. was ...

* Kal Banx *

Sounwave Mark Anthony Spears (born February 28, 1986), known professionally as Sounwave, is an American record producer and songwriter. He is a frequent collaborator of rapper Kendrick Lamar, having worked on all of his projects since his 2009 self-title ...

Former

Discography

The discography of Top Dawg Entertainment currently consists of 25

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s, two

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s, six

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

s (EPs) and 17

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

s. Overall the label has sold more than ten million records in the US alone.

References

External links

* {{Authority control American hip-hop record labels Record labels established in 2004 American independent record labels 2004 establishments in California