Sub Verse Music
Encyclopedia
Sub Verse Music was a record label
specializing in hip hop
. It existed from 1998 to 2003 and released recordings by MF Doom
, Blackalicious
and KMD
, among others.
, one of the founders of the underground NYC group Company Flow
of Rawkus Records
, Peter Lupoff, an entertainment investor, and Fiona Bloom
, hip-hop publicist and then label manager of the hip-hop label 3-2-1 Records.
Sub Verse was launched in 1998 and released artists such as Blackalicious
, Rubberroom, Scienz of Life, KMD
, MF Doom
, Micranots, C-Rayz Walz
and Bigg Jus
. Their records were distributed worldwide through EMI
and received critical acclaim.http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=3134&name=KMDhttp://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=4229&name=MF+Doom[]http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2000_11F_obelisk.htmlhttp://www.rollingstone.com/artists/blackalicious/albums/album/224648/review/5940750/nia
Though Sub Verse came very close to getting bought or invested in by MCA
, with the industry in decline the label eventually ran out of money and could not put out records that would at least make the cost back. The events of 9/11 also took their toll on the morale and the financial fortunes of the NY company.http://www.grooveon.com.au/content.cfm?article=3169 These factors occurred just as Sub Verse's music started to become more broadly accessible, with releases by MF DOOM
, the important release of KMD
's Bl ck B st rds, and LPs and singles by some up and coming artists such as C-Rayz Walz
, BukueOne, Tariq L and DMS. Sub Verse put out its last release, a compilation called "Seditious Jewels", in 2003.
Sub Verse Music supported the underground hip-hop scene in NYC and to a degree, the larger cities in the US with shows in New York, regularly at The Knitting Factory for instance. The label had a separate entity, called "Subversive Skool", run by Fiona Bloom with Peter Lupoff, that brought underground artists from outside NYC to New York.http://www.thebloomeffect.com/bio.html Shows were headlined by the "star", usually had another NYC local notable and one or two Sub Verse artists or prospects. It was sponsored by 555 Soul and Eckō
, among others. The label also gave CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, other Sub Verse gear and their time and effort to support causes like hip-hop education (at the Brooklyn Museum
), the Hip-Hop Film Festival, and Tolerance.org.
was known as one of the top battle MCs in NY.http://web.archive.org/web/20070403140920/http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1313 While label co-founder Bigg Jus had a view of a more dusty underground sound, C-Rayz was friendly with Lupoff and later with Bloom. He was a stalwart of the shows produced by Sub Verse' Subversive Skool unit and was later the battle MC and teacher on an MTV episode of "Made
" in which a kid strives to be a battle MC.
MF Doom
turned to Sub Verse after Fondle 'Em Records
closed up shop. After his meeting up with Bigg Jus in ATL, Sub Verse re-mastered and re-released his Operation: Doomsday
with a new track: "I Hear Voices Part I" . A Flash video for this track won gold in the International Design Excellence Awards in 2001.http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/idea_winners/index.asp?corporate=Sub%20Verse%20Music Sub Verse also released the shelved Bl ck B st rds, recorded for Elektra
with his old group KMD
.
Bigg Jus
came to hip-hop through graffiti. Through his skills he became acquainted with El-P, an up and coming underground MC. The two lived together a while, and joined with Mr. Len
to form the seminal NYC underground squad, Company Flow
.
BukueOne was a graf, skateboard, and, oddly, duckpin bowling fiend. His graffiti covered whole walls in the Sub Verse office in Tribeca. Bukue set his own course always and only looked to Sub Verse to help him get around the world and back in exchange for recordings. Bukue is affiliated loosely with the Hieroglyphics
crew, having grown up in Oakland and tour managed them often.
Fiona Bloom is a British, classically trained pianist who won classical music scholarships to the U.S. and fell in love with hip hop. She worked at radio stations in ATL, then for EMI, and then ran 3-2-1 Records, a fledgling hip-hop label and source of early Sub Verse recordings.http://www.thebloomeffect.com/bio.html
Peter Lupoff is a Wall Street investor, entertainment banker and venture capitalist. But it is little known that early on, he was part of a hip-hop group with live instruments that played around NYC; their group opened for Kool Moe Dee
, Slick Rick
and others, and in the 90's Peter ghostwrote lyrics for better known artists struck with writer's block. He was known to labels as "the cleaner", for his ability to clean up botched projects, and to others as "Stylin' Pete Style", for his dressy apparel.
Opuriche "OP" Miller is a current DJ on the scenes in NYC and South Africa. OP started out as an employee at Sub Verse, focused on marketing and processing recordings from initial recording to release. Eventually, when many left Sub Verse after 911, his music aesthetic was the direction Sub Verse wanted to go and OP was largely the A&R person in the waning years. OP is actively involved in major hip-hop releases on the distribution side to this day.
Sub Verse had many interns come through their shop in the years 1998-2003, many are now actively involved in music, management, distribution and marketing.
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
specializing in hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. It existed from 1998 to 2003 and released recordings by MF Doom
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
, Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
and KMD
KMD
KMD was an American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother...
, among others.
History
The label was dedicated to underground, conscious hip-hop and was started by Bigg JusBigg Jus
Bigg Jus is an American hip hop artist from New York City, formerly a member of Company Flow along with Mr. Len and El-P. After the late-1990s breakup of Company Flow, Bigg Jus formed the now defunct Sub Verse Music and began to pursue his solo career...
, one of the founders of the underground NYC group Company Flow
Company Flow
Company Flow is an American underground hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York City at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/producer El-P and DJ/producer Mr...
of Rawkus Records
Rawkus Records
Rawkus Records is an American hip-hop record label known for jump-starting the careers of both Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Rawkus started in 1996 with initial releases ranging from hip-hop to drum and bass...
, Peter Lupoff, an entertainment investor, and Fiona Bloom
Fiona Bloom
Fiona Bloom is a music industry publicist that runs the New York City agency The Bloom Effect, which represents numerous recording artists and organizes high profile events on behalf of the organization's music industry clientele....
, hip-hop publicist and then label manager of the hip-hop label 3-2-1 Records.
Sub Verse was launched in 1998 and released artists such as Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
, Rubberroom, Scienz of Life, KMD
KMD
KMD was an American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother...
, MF Doom
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
, Micranots, C-Rayz Walz
C-Rayz Walz
Waleed Shabazz, better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an MC from The Bronx, New York. He is currently a member of the Legendary NY hip hop Syndicate Stronghold. C-Rayz Walz has been a fixture in the New York hip-hop scene for years. He hosts many hip-hop shows and events, has appeared on...
and Bigg Jus
Bigg Jus
Bigg Jus is an American hip hop artist from New York City, formerly a member of Company Flow along with Mr. Len and El-P. After the late-1990s breakup of Company Flow, Bigg Jus formed the now defunct Sub Verse Music and began to pursue his solo career...
. Their records were distributed worldwide through EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and received critical acclaim.http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=3134&name=KMDhttp://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=4229&name=MF+Doom[]http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2000_11F_obelisk.htmlhttp://www.rollingstone.com/artists/blackalicious/albums/album/224648/review/5940750/nia
Though Sub Verse came very close to getting bought or invested in by MCA
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
, with the industry in decline the label eventually ran out of money and could not put out records that would at least make the cost back. The events of 9/11 also took their toll on the morale and the financial fortunes of the NY company.http://www.grooveon.com.au/content.cfm?article=3169 These factors occurred just as Sub Verse's music started to become more broadly accessible, with releases by MF DOOM
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
, the important release of KMD
KMD
KMD was an American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother...
's Bl ck B st rds, and LPs and singles by some up and coming artists such as C-Rayz Walz
C-Rayz Walz
Waleed Shabazz, better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an MC from The Bronx, New York. He is currently a member of the Legendary NY hip hop Syndicate Stronghold. C-Rayz Walz has been a fixture in the New York hip-hop scene for years. He hosts many hip-hop shows and events, has appeared on...
, BukueOne, Tariq L and DMS. Sub Verse put out its last release, a compilation called "Seditious Jewels", in 2003.
Sub Verse Music supported the underground hip-hop scene in NYC and to a degree, the larger cities in the US with shows in New York, regularly at The Knitting Factory for instance. The label had a separate entity, called "Subversive Skool", run by Fiona Bloom with Peter Lupoff, that brought underground artists from outside NYC to New York.http://www.thebloomeffect.com/bio.html Shows were headlined by the "star", usually had another NYC local notable and one or two Sub Verse artists or prospects. It was sponsored by 555 Soul and Eckō
Ecko
Eckō unltd. is a brand of urban lifestyle clothing founded by fashion designer Marc Ecko, that has been popular since the late 1990s, and moved into the mainstream urban culture in the early 2000s. It is most often associated with hip-hop people. The style is based on graffiti art.The creation of...
, among others. The label also gave CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, other Sub Verse gear and their time and effort to support causes like hip-hop education (at the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
), the Hip-Hop Film Festival, and Tolerance.org.
People
C-Rayz WalzC-Rayz Walz
Waleed Shabazz, better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an MC from The Bronx, New York. He is currently a member of the Legendary NY hip hop Syndicate Stronghold. C-Rayz Walz has been a fixture in the New York hip-hop scene for years. He hosts many hip-hop shows and events, has appeared on...
was known as one of the top battle MCs in NY.http://web.archive.org/web/20070403140920/http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1313 While label co-founder Bigg Jus had a view of a more dusty underground sound, C-Rayz was friendly with Lupoff and later with Bloom. He was a stalwart of the shows produced by Sub Verse' Subversive Skool unit and was later the battle MC and teacher on an MTV episode of "Made
Made (TV series)
MTV's MADE is a self-improvement reality television series broadcast on MTV. The series follows teens who have a goal and want to be "made" into things like singers, athletes, dancers, skateboarders, etc. The teens are joined by a "Made Coach", an expert in their chosen field, who tries to help...
" in which a kid strives to be a battle MC.
MF Doom
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
turned to Sub Verse after Fondle 'Em Records
Fondle 'Em Records
Fondle ‘Em Records was a record label based in New York City, New York. It was founded and owned by Robert “Bobbito” Garcia from 1995 to 2001. Bobbito formed the label after realizing that the many unsigned rappers making guest appearances on “The Stretch Armstrong/Bobbito Show,” a program Bobbito...
closed up shop. After his meeting up with Bigg Jus in ATL, Sub Verse re-mastered and re-released his Operation: Doomsday
Operation: Doomsday
Operation: Doomsday is the debut solo album by hip hop artist Daniel Dumile, under his MF DOOM alias, marking Dumile's return to the hip hop scene after KMD's demise...
with a new track: "I Hear Voices Part I" . A Flash video for this track won gold in the International Design Excellence Awards in 2001.http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/idea_winners/index.asp?corporate=Sub%20Verse%20Music Sub Verse also released the shelved Bl ck B st rds, recorded for Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
with his old group KMD
KMD
KMD was an American hip hop trio in the early 1990s, best known for launching the career of acclaimed rapper and producer MF DOOM, who at the time was known as Zev Love X. Other members of the group were Rodan and DJ Subroc–Zev Love X's younger brother...
.
Bigg Jus
Bigg Jus
Bigg Jus is an American hip hop artist from New York City, formerly a member of Company Flow along with Mr. Len and El-P. After the late-1990s breakup of Company Flow, Bigg Jus formed the now defunct Sub Verse Music and began to pursue his solo career...
came to hip-hop through graffiti. Through his skills he became acquainted with El-P, an up and coming underground MC. The two lived together a while, and joined with Mr. Len
Mr. Len
Mr. Len is a hip hop DJ from Bronx, New York. He was a member, with Bigg Jus and El-P, of the underground hip hop trio Company Flow, which disbanded in the late-1990s. Presently he is in a group with Kimani Rogers from The Masterminds named Roosevelt Franklin...
to form the seminal NYC underground squad, Company Flow
Company Flow
Company Flow is an American underground hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York City at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/producer El-P and DJ/producer Mr...
.
BukueOne was a graf, skateboard, and, oddly, duckpin bowling fiend. His graffiti covered whole walls in the Sub Verse office in Tribeca. Bukue set his own course always and only looked to Sub Verse to help him get around the world and back in exchange for recordings. Bukue is affiliated loosely with the Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics (band)
Hieroglyphics, also known as the Hieroglyphics Crew and Hiero, are an American underground hip hop collective based in Oakland, California. The collective was founded in the early-1990s by rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien...
crew, having grown up in Oakland and tour managed them often.
Fiona Bloom is a British, classically trained pianist who won classical music scholarships to the U.S. and fell in love with hip hop. She worked at radio stations in ATL, then for EMI, and then ran 3-2-1 Records, a fledgling hip-hop label and source of early Sub Verse recordings.http://www.thebloomeffect.com/bio.html
Peter Lupoff is a Wall Street investor, entertainment banker and venture capitalist. But it is little known that early on, he was part of a hip-hop group with live instruments that played around NYC; their group opened for Kool Moe Dee
Kool Moe Dee
Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...
, Slick Rick
Slick Rick
Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...
and others, and in the 90's Peter ghostwrote lyrics for better known artists struck with writer's block. He was known to labels as "the cleaner", for his ability to clean up botched projects, and to others as "Stylin' Pete Style", for his dressy apparel.
Opuriche "OP" Miller is a current DJ on the scenes in NYC and South Africa. OP started out as an employee at Sub Verse, focused on marketing and processing recordings from initial recording to release. Eventually, when many left Sub Verse after 911, his music aesthetic was the direction Sub Verse wanted to go and OP was largely the A&R person in the waning years. OP is actively involved in major hip-hop releases on the distribution side to this day.
Sub Verse had many interns come through their shop in the years 1998-2003, many are now actively involved in music, management, distribution and marketing.