Tru 'Dat' Entertainment (also variated as Tru 'dat' Entertainment, Trudat Entertainment and TRU DAT Entertainment) or plainly Tru Dat was a Los Angeles, California-based firm founded in 2006 by Hysear Randell, a wealthy

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, as a recruitment platform for urban talent in music, sport, film and fashion. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment also aimed to aid the poor by providing them with opportunities for recruitment at one of their establishments. The company was still in its first stages of development so their rosters were not lengthy.

History

Music

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was based as a junior record label with hopes of establishing a lengthy roster of talented artists in the genre of

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

. Tru Dat signed former

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. D ...

artist,

Tha Realest Jevon Jones (born October 11, 1973) is an American Rapping, rapper better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, ''Witness Tha Realest'', was released on July 14, 2009, ...

, and also employed Bosko, a talented young producer. Tha Realest released his first

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for his intended debut single, "Eurry Now And Then", on the label, which was also set to distribute Tha Realest's upcoming debut album, ''

Witness Tha Realest ''Witness Tha Realest'' is the debut album by rapper Tha Realest. The album was released on July 14, 2009 by RBC Records/Team Dime Entertainment and distributed by E1 Music (formerly Koch Records). Overview">Witness tha Realest > Overview allmus ...

'', in early 2007. Former Death Row Records Security Head Reggie Wright Junior, recently quoted as saying he could have run Death Row better than Suge Knight, was on board as part of Tru Dat.

Last known roster

*Bosko

Other ventures

Tru 'Dat' Entertainment worked as a project company for urban-style films. Tru Dat worked on the production of ''

Waist Deep ''Waist Deep'' is a 2006 American action drama film directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall and starring Tyrese Gibson and Meagan Good. Plot Ex-con Otis Samuel Sr. or "O2" on account of his ability to vanish from a crime scene like oxygen, has done his ...

'', a 2006 film about a father, whose son is kidnapped by members of a criminal organization, must collect a ransom amount of $100,000 by taking on a criminal persona. Tru Dat's production of the film was successful through various affiliates and subsidiaries, such as ''Tycoon International Holdings'' and ''Radar Pictures''. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was working on other film projects including ''PITBULL'' and ''Ear 2 Da Street'' which were due for release in late 2007 to early 2008. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was working on establishing an urban clothing brand. The line of clothing was aimed at footwear fashion and hip-hop style clothing. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment established a subsidiary for sports. This way, Tru 'Dat' Entertainment focused on promoting

boxing match Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a p ...

es and skilled boxers. Tru Dat was determined to recruit youth and train them to become tough competitive boxers, who in turn will shape the structure of the Tru Dat industry.

Tax-scam controversy

On April 28, 2007, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

was issued for Hysear Don Randell. According to ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'' and ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'', Hysear's girlfriend Michelle Cawthra, a revenue supervisor at the Department of Revenue in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, authorized phony

tax return A tax return is a form on which a person or organization presents an account of income and circumstances, used by the tax authorities to determine liability for tax. Tax returns are usually processed by each country's tax authority, known as ...

s to Randell and Holliday by forging former Revenue Department employees' signatures. Sources say that she transferred approximately $5.3 million ($5,327,278) with a total estimate of $8 million to

bank account A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transaction A financial transaction is an Contract, agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, ...

s held by Randell. Randell was arrested on May 2, 2007 and held, along with Cawthra and Holliday, in Arapahoe County jail on $10 million

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

. Andre Holliday was released on lack of evidence of involvement in the scheme but Cawthra was charged with 27 counts of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

, theft and forgery (violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act,

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

computer crime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cybercriminals may exp ...

, conspiracy to commit theft, and 18 counts of forgery, embezzlement of public property, theft and conspiracy to commit embezzlement of public property)."Woman charged in scheme"
by Sue Lindsay, ''Rocky Mountain News'', May 3, 2007 Following the incident, in 2008, it was alleged that Tru Dat had officially been discontinued. Its back catalogs were sold to Rapp Records.

References

{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 2006 Hip-hop record labels