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

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, founded by Tony Draper. 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 duo from Memphis, Tennessee. They met at Ridgeway Middle School (Memphis, Tennessee) in 1984. In 1993, the duo released their debut album '' Comin' Out Hard''. They went on to release '' On the Outside Looking ...

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 east and west. 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 or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

. 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 company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

and later

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, 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 38,030 (2020 calculation), and a municipality in Honduras on the northern Caribbean coast. It is located in the department of Atlantida. History Colonial era Tela was founded by the Spanish conquistad ...

, South Circle, Mr. Mike,

Crime Boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

– 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''. 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 July 1999 by Danny Goldberg with Daniel Glass as President, and closed in April 2006. The label was acquired by E1 Entertainment. Artemis had a leading share of the U.S. ...

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

Chico DeBarge Jonathan Arthur "Chico" DeBarge (born June 23, 1966) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and musician. DeBarge was formally a member (for their final album) of the family musical group DeBarge. As a solo artist he scored a 1986 US Top For ...

, Joe, Psychodrama, Toni Hickman, and Ab Liva. In 2007, Suave House Records also released an album from Def Jam's recording artist

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...

titled ''

Rise to Power Rise or RISE may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * '' Rise: The Vieneo Province'', an internet-based virtual world * Rise FM, a fictional radio station in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto 3'' * Rise Kujikawa, a video ...

''. The album was composed of older songs from Rick 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 Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east ...

. The label's first release under the partnership was an Eightball & 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? ''"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 ''(XXL Staff Member, 2006).

Current artists

*Marly DuMarz *Amir Perry *T-Mix *X.O. *Asco Jones *Corey Morris *Park Avenue *Prince Newman *Scrilla

Current labels

*Royal Reign, LLC *Black Militia Entertainment

Former artists

* Smooth Rhyme Criminals *

* South Circle (Mr. Mike and Thorough) * Mr. Mike *

* The Fedz *

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, (born April 15, 1974), professionally known as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Sho'nuff Records, to wh ...

* Young Twan * Psychodrama * Nuckle Heads * Ill Hill Billies *

* Noah * Gillie Da Kid * Omar The Czar * One Gud Cide * Mr. Sche * Baby S * Big Duke * Big Gee * At-Large * Big Mike * Foulmouf

References

Koch Records, Suave Records Ink Partnership XXLmag.com - » Suave House Suave House Records Returns with Jigg, Ice Cube Cosigns New Rick Ross Album Coming, But Not On Def JamTony Draper: Unplugged!

External links