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Eastern Conference Records is an independent record label based in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. It is owned and operated by DJ Mighty Mi, the DJ/producer for the High & Mighty. During the label's brief heyday, it represented
underground rappers Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * Buenos Aires Underground, a rapid transit system * London Underground, a rapid transit system * ...
such as
Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...
, Tame One (one-half of the duo The Artifacts), R.A. the Rugged Man, and The Weathermen, a supergroup created by
Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...
,
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
and
Aesop Rock Ian Matthias Bavitz (born June 5, 1976), better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American rapper and producer from Long Island, New York. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emerg ...
, Copywrite, Tame One, Breeze Brewin of the Juggaknots,
El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...
,
Camu Tao Tero Smith (June 26, 1977 – May 25, 2008), better known by his stage name Camu Tao, was an American rapper, singer, and producer. Early life Tao was born Tero Smith in Columbus, Ohio, on June 26, 1977. Career Tao was signed to Definitive Jux ...
, and Yak Ballz.


History


Beginnings

Mr. Eon established the Eastern Conference imprint in 1996, in the midst of the late nineties indie boom of rap. During this epoch, which spanned from roughly 1996 to 2002, a renewed interest in vinyl records provided a niche market for many smaller record labels and fiercely independent rappers. In addition to Eastern Conference, '' Rawkus Records'', '' Fondle 'Em Records'', '' Solesides'', and ''
Stones Throw Records Stones Throw Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. Under the direction of founder Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has released music ranging from hip hop to experimental psychedelic rock. ''LA Weekly'' ...
'' were established during this time period. The former two were based in New York alongside Eastern Conference, and the latter two in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Similar to both Fondle 'Em and Rawkus, Eastern Conference was initially a vinyl-only imprint. Critical response to the label's early output was positive, and the first Eastern Conference single, The High & Mighty's "It's All Good / Hands On Experience (feat. Bobbito the Barber & El-P) / Cranial Lumps" quickly reached cult status on the strength of "Hands On Experience", a whimsical ode to masturbation. During its first three years of existence, Eastern Conference continued to release successful twelve-inch singles from the Smut Peddlers, Jurassic 5's ''
Chali 2na Charles Stewart (born June 26, 1971), better known as Chali 2na (), is an American painter and rapper, associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He is known for his bass-baritone voice and quick-delivery rapping style. Personal life ...
'', The High & Mighty, and '' Mad Skillz''. The label's eye for new talent steadily built its reputation as an up-and-coming imprint in the contemporary rap scene. In 1998, Eastern Conference released its first compilation, ''Eastern Conference All-Stars.'' This release was essentially a collection of the first eight or so vinyl singles, drawing comparisons to Rawkus Records' '' Soundbombing''.


Peak and decline

In 1999, Eastern Conference Records began distributing through Rawkus Records, which had become an extremely successful label in its own right. This began what could arguably be called Eastern Conference's most successful period. During this time, two relatively successful albums were released: The High & Mighty's ''Home Field Advantage'' and the Smut Peddlers' '' Porn Again''. Both cracked the Billboard Top 200 (the former at #193 and the latter at #184), and had strong supporting singles: "B-Boy Document '99 (featuring Mad Skillz & Mos Def)" and "That Smut", respectively. Amidst these successes, the label continued to release positively received twelve-inch singles, including Mad Skillz' "Ghostwriter" and Cage's "Suicidal Failure". When Eastern Conference's two-year contract to Rawkus was up, Mighty Mi made the decision to sever ties with Rawkus and continue to "build independently", without releasing records under a major label. He soon found a distributor (Landspeed Records, who had released the first ''Eastern Conference All-Stars''), and quickly began releasing material. The first release under Landspeed was, fittingly, ''Eastern Conference All Stars II'', an all-new compilation featuring music from
Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...
,
Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American Rapping, rapper, producer and actor who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influe ...
,
Reef the Lost Cauze Sharif Talib Lacey, better known by his stage name Reef the Lost Cauze, is an American underground rapper based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cauze became well known on the underground circuit towards the late 1990s and more so in the early 200 ...
, Tame One, and The Last Emperor. During the next three years, however, Eastern Conference experienced a dramatic decline in interest and support from rap fans. One speculated reason for this is that since the label no longer enjoyed major label backing, as it had through Rawkus, it became harder to distribute their projects as widely and promote them as heavily. However, many hip-hop fans claim that Eastern Conference's output simply suffered from a lack of overall quality. Additionally, the label was dealt a harsh blow when Cage, along with his group the Weathermen, the label's biggest selling act, moved to the
Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name ...
label. When asked about the move in a HipHopSite.com interview, Cage replied
"I hit a ceiling with E.C., period. That was it. I wasn't making money. The amount of money I made with them, I could have made myself. But then again, in doing it myself, how many more pieces would I have sold? I'd be kind of doing the same thing, just not splitting the money so many different ways. But it was about expansion, about growth. It's what artists do.

However, Cage later stated that another reason for his leaving the label was financial mismanagement and lack of proper marketing and promotion for his albums. Instead, he claimed that Mighty Mi (and, to an extent, Mr. Eon) were funneling the label's money into their own projects. Encouraged by Cage, other artists who had formerly recorded for EC and supported his claims of Mighty Mi's sloppy business dealings. This created a storm of bad publicity for Eastern Conference Records & Mighty Mi, and were nearly as damaging as Cage's departure itself. Shortly after, other Weathermen, Yak Ballz and Tame One followed Cage and moved to other labels. Whether caused by the artists' claims or not, Eastern Conference's output was drastically reduced from 2005 onward; the label released four albums in 2005, one album in 2006, and by June 2007 had only released one album.


Current label status

The current status of Eastern Conference Records is somewhat of a mystery. The label's website, ECRecs.com, is no longer functional, and output has been extremely limited. By June 2007, the only source of information about upcoming Eastern Conference releases was through DJ Mighty Mi's
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page. In 2013 the label released
Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...
's fourth studio album '' Kill the Architect.''


Artist roster


Current artists / groups (As of August 2013)

*
The High & Mighty The High & Mighty is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rapper Mr. Eon ("The High", b. Erik Meltzer in February 16, 1972) and producer DJ Mighty Mi ("The Mighty", b. Milo Berger in September 1, 1972). Career Their comme ...
*Sub-Conscious *
Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...


Former artists / groups

*Ill-Advised / Baby Blak * Mad Skillz *Smut Peddlers * The Weathermen * Nighthawks * Leak Bros *
Camu Tao Tero Smith (June 26, 1977 – May 25, 2008), better known by his stage name Camu Tao, was an American rapper, singer, and producer. Early life Tao was born Tero Smith in Columbus, Ohio, on June 26, 1977. Career Tao was signed to Definitive Jux ...
* R.A. the Rugged Man *Chief Kamachi & The
JuJu Mob The JuJu Mob (originally credited as ''Chief Kamachi & The JuJu Mob'') is a four-member underground hip hop group originating from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was founded in 2004.Matt Jost, Chief Kamachi & the JuJu Mob :: Black Candles :: ...
*
Reef the Lost Cauze Sharif Talib Lacey, better known by his stage name Reef the Lost Cauze, is an American underground rapper based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cauze became well known on the underground circuit towards the late 1990s and more so in the early 200 ...
* Copywrite * Yak Ballz * Tame One


See also

*
List of record labels File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg File:Bingola1011b.jpg Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, ...


References


External links


''Eastern Conference All-Stars II'' Review

Cage interview @ HipHopSite.com

Eastern Conference Records Discography
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1996 American independent record labels Hip-hop record labels