Soul Temple Records is an American

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

founded in 2012 by hip hop recording artist

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name RZA ( ) or the RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is the '' de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having pro ...

and Bob Perry after the release of the RZA directed ''

The Man with the Iron Fists ''The Man with the Iron Fists'' is a 2012 American martial arts film directed by RZA and written by RZA and Eli Roth. The film stars RZA, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Dave Bautista, and Jamie Chung. Set in 19th cent ...

''. The label's first release was that album's soundtrack. The label has since released studio albums by

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

members

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

and

U-God Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), better known by his stage name U-God, meaning Universal-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for ...

. All albums released on the label are executive produced by RZA.

History

On August 28, 2012, leading up to the release of

's directorial debut '' The Man with the Iron Fist'', he announced the founding of a new record label named Soul Temple Records. He explained the goal of the label being; the label "will release records from independent minded artists from a variety of genres, from the creative community." The labels first release would be revealed to be '' The Man With the Iron Fists OST''. The album featured appearances from

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as one half of the Virginia-based hip hop duo Clipse, which he formed with his older brother No Malice, Malice. M ...

, M.O.P.,

Freddie Gibbs Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper and songwriter. He signed with Interscope Records in 2006 and recorded his debut album for the label; however, its release was cance ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

Kool G. Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Cre ...

Flatbush Zombies Flatbush Zombies (stylized as Flatbush ZOMBiES) are an American hip hop group from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2010. The group is composed of rappers Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick Arc Elliott, with Elliot ...

, Corrine Bailey Rae,

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of the ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...

, and

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

among others. RZA said Soul Temple had been an idea he had for years, and it was inspired by his relationship with

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

. By September 2012, Ghostface Killah announced he would be releasing an album through Soul Temple Records titled, '' Twelve Reasons to Die'' on November 20, however it would be pushed back to April 2013 to not compete with ''The Man with the Iron Fists'' soundtrack. On March 19, 2013, RZA released ''The RZA Presents Shaolin Soul Selection: Vol 1'' a compilation album compiled from the

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

archive. ''Twelve Reasons to Die'' would be released on April 16, 2013, and debut at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' 200 selling 15,000 copies in its first week of sale. In June 2013, U-God would sign onto Soul Temple to release his fourth studio album, the RZA produced '' The Keynote Speaker''. It would receive its release on July 23, 2013, to minor commercial performance and mixed critical reception. U-God would criticize Soul Temple following its release, for him feeling they did not promote or release his record correctly. Soul Temple was also meant to release

Souls of Mischief Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from Oakland, California, that is also part of the hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. The Souls of Mischief formed in 1991 and is composed of rappers A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai. History East Oakland ...

's sixth studio album ''There Is Only Now'' in 2013. Following an outrage due to orders not being processed correctly, and customers not receiving their products, RZA said that it was due to bad staffing positions at the label, which resulted in business not running correctly. This "statement" made on "Twitter" in '2013/2014' was what RZA was forced to "finally" publicly announce due to the multiple Non Disclosure Contracts Bob Perry forced to be signed before the infinite dismissal by anyone too closely involved aka "Staffed/Working" to attempt to fix multiple layers of errors, working ethically to correct the unethical failing system Bob Perry had already created. Unfortunately; those whom were present to witness it all behind closed doors while RZA was abroad touring and filming-were legally silenced by Bob Perry himself. There were constant daily enactments of battling for the integrity of RZA's reputation (in business as well as an artist), the loyalty with trust of global fans and above all- the roster of artists projects already launched, mid launching, soon to be launched. The very strategically composed NDC's signed by anyone considered a "liability" due to their experience and depths of knowledge being so closely involved; prevented the voicing or submission of evidence obtained by the meticulous observations of outrageous truths hidden by unethical business strategies used to prevent exposing the extensive realities of countless deceitful actions that RZA (most of all) was not a part of, never truly aware of and in fact remains completely unaware of to this present day and time; still- in 2023. He also revealed that Bob Perry had been removed from the mail-order department, and demoted from president of the label to VP of the A&R department. On December 24, 2013, the label released "Destiny Bends" a tribute song for deceased actor

Paul Walker Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Paul Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gainin ...

by RZA for digital download.

Discography

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control American independent record labels Hip-hop record labels