A walk down memory lane.
Rap-A-Lot Records has helped craft the careers some hip hop’s most respected artists, so when founder J. Prince sits down for a discussion about the history the label, the culture listens. J. Prince recently chatted with Slim Thug and the Connect Music crew about the inception and rise Rap-A-Lot, including a mention an artist that he wishes he would have signed and a story about how his son, Jas Prince, discovered Drake.
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J. Prince shared that Jas was on tour with Lil Wayne at the time but the mogul father let it be known that it was all about business. “I need you to go to Lil Wayne and tell him you want to start a label and y’all can be partners,” he said he told Jas. “Tell him your ol’ man got a mill for you, you’re gonna start your own label. You want to do a partnership with him and you got some artists.”
Jas calls his father to share that Wayne is down for a partnership, something that J. Prince said he already knew. Then, J. Prince asked Jas who his first artist was going to be, and his son told him about a Toronto rapper named Drake. J. Prince wasn’t sure about Toronto, but made a few calls and determined that there was a “buzz” going on around Drake. After hearing Drake’s music, J. Prince said he wasn’t a fan a singing rapper, but Jas assured him that it was the new sound hip hop. J. Prince told Jas to arrange it so that Drake appeared on stage with Wayne as Wayne put his arm around him, and the rest was history.
He also shared a story about missing the opportunity to sign Vanilla Ice in his prime as the young rapper was raking in the dough from “Ice Ice Baby.” The interview is packed full gems, so check it out in full below.