Andre Harrell was a foundational determine in city music and the pioneer of hip-hop soul. By his label Uptown Information, he created the structure for the fashionable city music panorama.
Andre O’Neal Harrell was born in The Bronx, NY on September 26, 1960. Whereas rising up in Bronxdale initiatives, Harrell’s father, who labored on the native Hunts Level Market, inspired him to do one thing he cherished for a dwelling. Harrell took that to coronary heart, and cultivated his entrepreneurial instincts all through highschool, elevating cash with sweet drives and choosing up additional jobs with a neighborhood messenger service. After graduating from Lehman School, he began climbing the ranks as a junior government in radio, first at a gospel station after which in advert gross sales at WINNS. Nevertheless, he later mentioned his actual training and profession coaching got here as soon as he managed to get on the guestlist for NYC hotspots of the period like Bentley’s; golf equipment the place he discovered every thing concerning the music enterprise and politics.
From artist to exec
Harrell had an inside view of hip-hop’s formative days as one half of duo Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with childhood good friend Alonzo Brown. The group gained native notoriety and garnered success with their 1981 hit ‘Genius Rap’. The suit-clad rappers had been an early precursor to the approach to life hip-hop Harrell’s Uptown Information would later popularise. Quickly after, Harrell met and have become quick mates with Def Jam founder Russell Simmons, who inspired him to affix the Rush Administration crew. Andre shortly rose to Vice President, and grooming famous person acts like LL Cool J prompted him to retire his personal creative pursuits and concentrate on growing and selling expertise as an alternative.
The invention of Mt Vernon rapper Heavy D, whom Simmons was bored with signing, spurred Harrell to type his personal firm, and he based Uptown Information as a subsidiary of MCA in 1986. The hip-hop scene was bustling with younger rap labels like Def Jam and Tommy Boy Information, however Harrell was an R&B aficionado, and noticed the way forward for the style within the rising new jack swing sound. Uptown was created as a spot to merge hip-hop and R&B – not simply the music, however the cultures – to seize the unfiltered “ghetto fabulous” fashion and power of Harlem.
Altering the face and look of R&B
Uptown shortly put out hit releases from hip-hop group Heavy D & The Boyz, R&B singer Al B Positive and R&B group Man, led by new jack swing producer Teddy Riley. The younger label wasn’t simply promoting music, however a way of life. Like his idol, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Harrell had an acute intuition for artist improvement and imaging. Heavy D’s affable “overweight lover” persona and innocuous lyrical content material primed the rapper for the primary wave of mainstream crossover. Uptown-crafted imaging was later a central a part of newcomers Mary J Blige and Jodeci altering the face and look of R&B by mixing in hip-hop and road fashion.
Harrell expanded Uptown’s attain to movie and TV in 1991 with Strictly Business, a film starring In Residing Colour’s Tommy Davidson and Halle Berry in her first main function. The movie’s success led MCA to grant a $50 million multi-media cope with Harrell in 1992, propelling the 32-year-old into an unique circle of Black leisure moguls. “A guy like Andre doesn’t appear on the scene but every once in a while,” MCA chairman Al Teller informed the LA Instances on the time. “Ultimately, this business is about instinctive creative judgement, and Andre’s instincts about artists and music and what audiences want are absolutely superb.”
Within the subsequent two years, Uptown was the main city report label beneath Andre’s management. He brokered the primary label-centric MTV Unplugged particular and album (which hasn’t been performed once more since); launched a TV present referred to as New York Undercover, a hip-hop spin on Miami Vice co-produced with procedural veteran Dick Wolf; and mentored a younger, formidable intern-turned-A&R government named Sean Combs, who was studying a components he would quickly emulate as founder and CEO of Dangerous Boy Entertainment.
A “lifestyle entertainment entrepreneur”
In 1995, Harrell left Uptown Information to step in his idol Berry Gordy’s sneakers on the helm of a struggling Motown. He stayed within the function for 2 years, after which joined Dangerous Boy Entertainment as President, lending his knowledge and experience to the shortly rising label alongside Combs. Within the years that adopted, Harrell co-founded Nu America data with singer/songwriter/producer and fellow label founder Kenneth “Babyface” Edmunds, and, proving he nonetheless had the intuition for expertise, signed a younger Robin Thicke. When Combs based REVOLT, he tapped Harrell as Vice-Chairman, the place Harrell remained till his demise.
Final 12 months, BET introduced a mini-series primarily based on Harrell and Uptown Information’ legacy. The careers Harrell helped launch; together with Mary J Blige, superstar stylist June Ambrose, film producer Brett Ratner, hip-hop producer Pete Rock, and Sean “Diddy” Combs are simply a part of Andre’s influence.
In an interview with Upscale, Andre Harrell referred to himself as a “lifestyle entertainment entrepreneur;” he was the primary government to see the worth in highlighting all points of Blackness for leisure slightly than segmenting primarily based on viewers. He noticed that edge complemented polish, in each aesthetics and music. He noticed a future when hip-hop tradition can be mainstream tradition.
