Kawan Kawmi "KP" Prather (born March 30, 1973) is an American record executive. He began his career as a DJ for the Atlanta-based hip hop group Parental Advisory (P.A.) in 1991, which were part of the larger collective

Dungeon Family The Dungeon Family were a musical collective based in Atlanta that specialized in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul music, soul influences. Members of this collective recorded music, and had their career emerge, from Rico Wade's basement ...

. The group was discovered by Pebbles and

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer who served as president and CEO of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004, as well as chairman and CEO of the Island Def Jam Mus ...

, and were the first act from the collective to sign a

major label "Big Three" music labels 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 t ...

deal with

LaFace Records LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achiev ...

in the late 1990s, through which Prather launched the imprint label Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment. During this time, he worked in executive or A&R positions on albums for LaFace labelmates including

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

OutKast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...

Goodie Mob Goodie Mob was an American hip hop group based in Atlanta, Georgia, consisting of CeeLo Green, Khujo, T-Mo, and Big Gipp. History The group was formed in 1991 by Cameron "Big Gipp" Gipp, Willie " Khujo" Knighton Jr., CeeLo Green (born Th ...

, Usher,

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

, and

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won seven ...

. Prather's Ghet-O-Vision is credited with having signed Atlanta-based hip hop acts

YoungBloodZ YoungBloodZ is an American Southern hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia composed of J-Bo and Sean Paul (later stylized as Sean P) formed in 1997. The duo were discovered by Kawan Prather and signed with his company Ghet-O-Vision, an imprint of ...

and

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

through

by 1999, as well as Tennessee-based rapper

Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, and raised in Antioch, Tennessee, he embarked on his recording career in 2005, releasing four mixtapes to pos ...

through

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 ...

in 2008. Prather's label released both of the former acts' respective debut albums: ''

Against da Grain ''Against da Grain'' is the debut studio album by American Southern hip hop duo YoungBloodZ, from Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It was released on October 12, 1999, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The album features guest appeara ...

'' (1999) and ''

I'm Serious ''I'm Serious'' is the debut studio album by American rapper T.I., released on October 9, 2001 by Arista Records and Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment. It remains his only release with the former label. The album included guest appearances from Pharr ...

'' (2001). He served as Vice President of A&R at

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

from 1999 to 2001, and held a similar post for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

from 2002 to 2005. He was then appointed Senior Vice President of A&R at

Island Def Jam Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American record label group formed on December 31, 1998, by Universal Music Group. Before 2014, IDJMG encompassed labels originally established under the umbrella of Island Records and Def Jam Recording ...

from 2012 to 2015, during which he signed 15-year-old R&B singer Khalil. In 2015, he was named Head of Music at

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

' creative umbrella I Am Other.

Biography

In 2000, LaFace was merged into

. After working on projects with Usher, Pink, and OutKast, he took a position as Executive Vice President, A&R, Sony Urban,

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. While at Columbia Records, KP worked with

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, dancer and actor. He rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the boy band B2K, which was formed in 1998 and managed by record e ...

Killer Mike Michael Santiago Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, singer and activist. He made his recording debut on Outkast's fourth album ''Stankonia'' (2000), and guest appeared on the duo's Gr ...

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final lineup comprised Beyoncé, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams (singer), Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Hou ...

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

, and signed John Legend. In 2008, KP teamed up with producer Malay and have a roster of artists and projects they are planning for release in the near future.

Discography

References

External links

Interview, HitQuarters Apr 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prather, Kawan 1973 births Living people African-American songwriters American music industry executives African-American record producers American hip-hop record producers Southern hip-hop musicians American rhythm and blues musicians Musicians from Atlanta Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) P.A. (group) members 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people