There were many labels interested in signing him and he thought he needed that to build a fanbase.
He’s considered to be an artist on the rise, but that doesn’t mean that IDK hasn’t been grinding in the industry for years. The artist had been independently releasing his own projects for quite some time, and industry executives and label heads have taken notice. There came a time when the rapper was “thisclose” to inking a deal with two coveted record labels, but he instead chose to work for himself.
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“Originally, I had an fer from G.O.O.D. Music and] I was talking to Top Dawg] at TDE,” IDK revealed to Genius on For the Record. “I was talking to a lot different subsidiary labels and basically trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I always felt like, damn, okay maybe if these people was my co-sign, it would help me get a little bit more attention or tap into a fanbase that already exists, not realizing how much control that I already had and things I’d already been working on for a while.”
It was then that he decided to launch his label Clue by partnering with Warner Records. “Not only to just have control but to have the ability to bring other artists and other people on board to kinda help build their careers as well. It’s a bigger picture thing,” he said. “Whereas, if I were to have went anywhere else, I would have been under everybody else’s ruling, and I just don’t work the best that way.
Back in June, Aaron Bay-Schuck, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Warner Records said IDK: “To call him just a rapper is not doing him justice. He is an artist in the truest sense the word. His lyrical prowess is unmatched, his ideas and vision are wildly creative, he’s doing things his way, and he’s making impactful and controversial statements with his music that challenge the way we look at the world. Tom Corson and I are thrilled to welcome him to the growing roster exciting artists at Warner Records.” Check out IDK’s full interview with For the Record below.