Souls of mischief/jjfp

[Hero1]

Thought this was interesting...

That was Jive, right? How was your relationship with them?
Tajai: Jive was cool. They were very professional. They were always about their business. So when they went from Too $hort, KRS One, Keith Murray and Tribe Called Quest to Britney Spears and The Back Street Boys their outlook on business changed, but it was still business. And we happened to be there during that whole change.

A Plus: So they wanted us to be a boy band. They were trying to hook us up with producers who did "Boom Shake The Room" for Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince.

Tajai: But none of it was mean spirited. They were just trying to make their money. So we parted ways. They didn't try to keep us or ruin our careers by not letting us go like you see a lot of these rap dudes do to other rappers. It was an amicable split. And, in their defense, they were very forward thinking for a while. I mean look who they had on the roster: KRS One, Tribe...

They even signed UGK.
Tajai: Exactly. They understood that there was rap outside New York and that it should be promoted on a high level. And they never tried to ruin ouR careers over a difference of opinion.

Opio: The fact of the matter is we're here having this conversation because Jive invested money and manpower and created an audience for us and we're forever grateful.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/09/qa_souls_of_mischief.php?page=2

[JumpinJack AJ]

JIVE Records was dope to me. There's always a downside when you mix business with art, but JIVE let the artists really be artists. Everything from the music, to the photography and music videos, to promotion. JIVE will always be one of the greatest (maybe right after Def Jam). Before they started dipping into pop music in 1997/1998, they had the best Hip-Hop and R-N-B acts. Everything from the big names JJ+FP, R. Kelly, Tribe Called Quest, Aaliyah, Boogie Down Produtions, KRS-One, Joe, Too-Short, Whodini, Keith Murray, Schooly D, Soul of Mischief, Kool Moe Dee, E-40/The Click, (even Samantha Fox) to the underdogs Fu-Schnickens, Smooth, Shaq, D-Nice, Nuttin' Nyce, 2 Too Many, Millie Jackson, etc, they were all dope....and I'm totally forgetting some names here. While it was never the same when they branched out and got large, you can't deny Chris Brown, Jordin Sparks, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC/Justin Timberlake. They also put together some great soundtracks and compilation albums.

[Hero1]

Yeah Jive was probably one of the best hip hop labels of the 90s and they unearthed some great talent. I loved their promotion too.

[Big Ben]

This is a bit off topic but this post reminded me a bit of a question I had in regards to JJFP and their label-mates. A lot of times you hear at the end of tracks from some artist shout out those people that they've got a relationship with, but I don't recall that ever happening were people shouted out JJFP. Do you guys know of any?

Edited September 26, 2013 by Big Ben

[Hero1]

Epmd shouted them out on a track

[JumpinJack AJ]

I've actually wanted to create a post where we compile all of the times JJ+FP got shout outs, either on wax or in "thank yous." It happened more often in "thank yous" than it did in people's music. JJ+FP seemed pretty alienated from the rest of Jive. They stayed to themselves pretty much. Mr. Lee is the only artist on Jive I recall working with them. Imagine if JJ+FP did an album between 1994 and 1998 while on Jive. I could easily see them making good music with A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Aaliyah, R. Kelly, Smooth, or Joe.

[KevTastic]

Camp-Lo shout out to Will on Luchini.

[bigted]

Interesting interview, btw I know Game shouted out Will on his hit single "Game's Pain" back in 2008, Nas shouted out JJFP on "Can't Forget About You" single from 2007