Suave House Records, also known as ''The Legendary Suave House'', is a

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, ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States, founded by Tony Draper.

History

The label was founded in 1990 when Draper was sixteen years old. Landmark independent releases from flagship act

8Ball & MJG 8Ball & MJG is an American hip hop music, hip hop duo from Orange Mound, Memphis, Orange Mound, Memphis, Tennessee. They met at Ridgeway Middle School (Memphis, Tennessee), Ridgeway Middle School in 1984. In 1993, the duo released their debut al ...

made the company a heavyweight in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. When Suave House signed national deals with

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his vinyl record shop, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metropolitan New York City. The IRD distribution name was later known as RED Distribution and ag ...

and later

Universal Records 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, ...

, 8Ball & MJG's efforts hit gold and platinum, as did their solo efforts. Suave House's other artists –

Tela Tela is a town, with a population of 39,920 (2023 calculation), and a municipality in Honduras on the northern Caribbean coast. It is located in the Atlántida department, department of Atlantida. History Colonial era Tela was founded by th ...

South Circle South Circle was an American hip hop group composed of Houston rappers Mr. Mike (Mike Walls) and Thorough (Rex Robeson) that was signed to Suave House Records Suave House Records, also known as ''The Legendary Suave House'', is a record lab ...

, Mr. Mike, and

Crime Boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, mafia don, mob boss, kingpin, or godfather is the leader of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss has absolute or nearly absolute control over the other members of the organization and is ...

– all carved out their own musical niches with music that alternated between gritty and street smooth, each selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the process. In 1997, Suave House switched distributors from Relativity to Universal Records. The label's first release under new distribution was MJG's solo debut ''

No More Glory ''No More Glory'' is the debut solo studio album by American rapper MJG. The album was released on November 18, 1997, via Suave House/Universal Records. The recording sessions took place at Urban House Studios in Houston. The album was produced ...

''. In 1999, after Suave House's distribution deal was up with Universal Records, the label signed a distribution deal with

Artemis Records Artemis Records was a New York–based independent record label, founded in June 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as president, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. As of 2006, Artemis Records was owned b ...

and release a compilation album titled '' Suave House Presents.. Off Da Chain Vol. 1'' which featured artists Lil Noah, Gillie Da Kid, 8Ball & MJG,

Chico DeBarge Jonathan Arthur "Chico" DeBarge (born June 23, 1966) is an American R&B singer and musician. DeBarge was formally a member of the DeBarge family musical group DeBarge. As a solo artist, he scored a 1986 US Top Forty hit with the song "Talk to ...

, Joe, Psychodrama, Toni Hickman, and Ab Liva. In 2007, Suave House Records also released an album from

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

's recording artist

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

titled '' Rise to Power''. The album was composed of older songs from Ross during his time at Suave House. Some tracks were remixed and produced by current Suave House's producer Jiggolo. In April 2008, Suave House signed a joint venture deal with Koch. The label's first release under the partnership was an 8Ball & MJG greatest hits album titled '' We Are the South''.

Suave House Records today

In a March 2006 interview with '' XXL'', Suave House CEO Tony Draper was asked about the vision of Suave House, "Why do you think Suave House II can compete in this day and age?" Draper said, "Because I believe that half of the niggas that you see out right now got their game from me. When Suave was doing their thing there was no Cash Money or No Limit. I respect what they've done. But a lot of niggas ain't real because they ain't paying respect. I knew the movement was big, my shit was solid. Because the only one thing that consumers know is that they love the product. They don't know that there is a nigga that's making them make songs like that. I was a family type nigga, we used to sit in the house making the shit from scratch. When the code was violated, that's when the music started changing."

Current labels

*Royal Reign LLC *Black Militia Entertainment

Artists

*Ice Cube *T-Mix * Scrilla *Prince Newman *Amir Perry (Jiggolo) *Corey Morris (musician) * 8Ball

Former artists

Suave House
hiphopdx.com. Retrieved 23 June 2023 *

* Mr. Sche *

Big Mike Big Mike is a nickname of: People with the nickname * Mike Abrams (criminal) (died 1898), American underworld criminal * Michael Clemente (1908–1987), American mobster * Michael Clarke Duncan (1957–2012), American actor sometimes credited a ...

* Smooth Rhyme Criminals *

(Mr. Mike and Thorough) * Mr. Mike * Lil' Noah * Gillie Da Kid * The Fedz *

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, known professionally as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. He founded the record label Sho'nuff Records in 1995, through which he signed R&B singer Ciara in 2003. He produced h ...

* Young Twan * Psychodrama * Nuckle Heads * Ill Hill Billies * Lux Cash * Noah * Omar The Czar * One Gud Cide * Baby S * Big Duke * Big Gee * At-Large * Foulmouf

References

External links

The Legendary Suave House official websiteSuave House 2 MyspaceThe Legendary Suave House Twitter page

Koch Records, Suave Records Ink Partnership
on ''Billboard''
Artemis Records May Ink Deal With Suave House
from ''CMJ New Music Report''
Suave House Records Returns With Jigg, Ice Cube Cosign
on ''HipHopDX''
New Rick Ross Album Coming, But Not On Def Jam
on ''Billboard''
Tony Draper: Unplugged!
on ''Tri-State Defender'' {{Authority control American independent record labels Gangsta rap record labels Hip-hop record labels Companies based in Houston Record labels established in 1990