There seems to be a completely new trend in music these days. Once an artist have established themselves and have recorded hit after hit after hit, they turn to something else to get them going. It’s similar to how established multi-millionaires typically start non-profits to give something back after they have achieved such immense financial success. While I don’t give a fuck how successful these non-profits have become (partly because I’m a conservative money-monger), I am interested to see how these successful artists use their fan-base and musical talent to create their own music label.

Now, you don’t need to be the Colby Cohen of hip-hop to create your own label, but you do need to have staggering musical and financial success to establish a successful one. So, as the end of what I call the “damn these motherfucka’s are dope era” officially came to a close in the past few years, artists such as Eminem, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Yung Joc (only kidding) decided to take their music to the next level and create their own labels. Their success in the past few years has largely been determined by the success of their individual labels. The debate as to which of these three (Eminem, Jay-Z and Kanye West) MCs has put together the most formidable label is almost impossible to answer. They are all in distinctly different phases of their development making it nearly impossible to compare them. But hey, that’s what we do here; answer the impossible. So let’s break it down. We’re going to hand out grades based on a few factors:

1. Does the artists’ label embody their own hip-hop philosophy?
2. How much work has said artist put in to his label to earn him respect?
3. Is their an artist on their label that will one day be “the doggfather of the label”?
4. We’re examining the entire development and evolution of each record label.
5. Lastly, we need to verify how legit this label is. Everyone knows that creating a label just takes one person to create a Facebook page with a bullshit label on it, so does it embody a bevy of talent?

Before we begin investigating and dissecting, let’s shut up all those who are reading this and saying “where is my man weezy and Young Money”. You are an absolute nieve fuck if you think Young Money is anything more than a bunch of idiots trying to create a capitalistic cult. C’mon, we all know Americans love an “what the fuck is this, can this really be called music” story. Hit up Rebecca Black. She knows. That is simply why Young Moola Baby has been left of this list. Tyga is the only one of the bunch with any serious lyrical talent. Plus, Drake is a huge bitch. Just ask Rapsandhustles.com. So let’s begin what will become a three part series with the oldest label, Shady Records.

Shady Records
By far the oldest of the three labels, Shady Records was established in 1999, by Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg. The label was created to give Eminem, who had just released his quadruple platinum album The Slim Shady LP an avenue to give his homies D12, a chance to showcase their talents in the mainstream. It may have been the most masterful plan for Em to help out his boys. Their first album, Devil’s Night went platinum and topped the U.S. charts. From then on, Em began focusing on expansion. He was introduced to Detroit based MC Obie Trice through D12 member Bizarre and in 2001, he was signed as the second artist on Shady Records. From then on out, it was a bunch of hit and misses. However, there was one huge HIT that stood out.

The real Slim Shady decided to court a young Queens-based rapper who had released a bunch of mixtapes, but did not receive any hype in the mainstream market. His name: Ja Rule. Imagine what it’d be like if Eminem had actually tried to sign the deepest voice in hip-hop? In reality, Em signed 50 Cent and released his 6x platinum record Get Rich or Die Tryin’ considered by many to be one of the Top 10 best hip-hop albums ever made. In comparison to every album released by every artist of these three labels, 50′s debut tops them all.

Eminem’s success with his new found label quickly turned sour when artists such as Stat Quo, Bobby Creekwater and Ca$his did not pan out. After short stints with the label, they were all released. Only Ca$his has found his way back on to the label with his rejuvinated work ethic and fresh lyrical material. But, that was then, and this is now.

Fast-forward to early 2011, Eminem put his name back in the mainstream with the success of his 7th studio album, Recovery that received daps from white college girls aged 18-25, but was shunned by real hip-hop heads for being “too mainstream” and “different” from what they came to love about Eminem. Destined to change this, he decided to take two huge leaps of faith in signing Yelawolf and supergroup Slaughterhouse to the label. Em launched a new campaign entitled “Shady 2.0″ as this was apart of a revamping for Shady Records that brought in artists with a classic Eminem/Detroit based sound. All three acts (including Eminem) graced the cover of XXL Magazine in March declaring Shady Records’ return to the top.

Now that you know the basics of Shady, let’s break down their elements. Eminem has been quite successful in signing artists that embody the Shady sound. While some acts like Bobby Creekwater and Slim Da Mobster did not release anything of significance, 50 Cent, D12 and Eminem more than make up for it. Overall, Shady Records has by far the most successful past of these three labels but does it have what it takes to bring “Shady 2.0″ into the spotlight? Eminem knew he needed to reach the mainstream American audience to his last album, so why did he go out and sign Slaughterhouse, a group that does not have very much mainstream appeal or even any appeal to southern America and why did he sign Yelawolf, an artist maligned for his physical appearance and out-of-the-box lyrical style? It’s simple, Eminem truly cares more about restoring real hip-hop than selling records or making money. It’s a trait he’s had in him since Infinite dropped in ’96. The only flaw in his scheme, who takes over the Shady reins when Em puts down the mic?

Overall Grade: A-

Part 2 of this three part article will be available next Wednesday (4/20). It will chronicle the life and times of Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music.