Black Hippy are, from left to right, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.
These days Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul spend basically all their time together, but they didn't grow up friends. They didn't meet at school and they'd already been working on rap music by the time they met. They were plucked from all over Los Angeles over the past decade and, one by one, installed in a tract house in a cul-de-sac right off the Gardena Freeway.
I spoke to the man who gathered them in another house across the street. Top Dawg was a street guy looking to go straight in the music industry. "I actually kept them locked up and working together inside there," he says. "They couldn't do nothing but bond."
His real name is Anthony Tiffith, and by then, he'd already built a studio and tried working with producers, then R&B singers. But he discovered rappers can record the most songs in the least amount of time.
The first rapper Top signed is a guy from his neighborhood, called Jay Rock. "I was one of the kids that was always getting into trouble," he says. "He just put me in the studio locked me in the studio and had me do something better with my life. And I been here ever since."
Rock soon had company in the studio. The rappers were mostly typical teenagers the older brother, the smart guy, the crazy one and the heartbreak kid. They horsed around and mimicked their favorite rappers, like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Biggie and Tupac. But Top was still the boss.
"This was they job," he says. "Whatever they needed was there. Food, shelter. Whatever they needed."
Top was there all the time too, trying to learn how to be an engineer. He hired a relative named Punch and gave him the title of President and Chairman. And a young guy named Dave Free became President and General Manager. Very quickly, they landed Jay Rock a record deal with Warner Bros., a major label. But just as quickly, Top says, it fell apart.
"In our mind, once you get a deal with a major label, they take over and do everything for you," he says. "We laid back. I think we fell asleep and they fell asleep."
Jay Rock's album never came out, and Warner Bros. let him out of his contract. Top and Punch realized they had to get serious. They contacted successful music businessmen for advice. They consolidated what they learned, especially from 50 Cent, into five bullet points. You know those inspirational posters big companies have in their hallways? Top Dawg Entertainment has one, except it's handwritten. It's the first thing you see when you walk in the door to the studio. Here are the five:
1. Charisma, personality, swagger.
2. Substance.
3. Lyrics.
4. Uniqueness.
5. Work Ethics.
The musicians follow the rules, mostly, but like any of group of young guys that are together all the time, they're also competitive everybody trying to be, well, top dog. Turning their crew into a group was Schoolboy Q's idea, because, he says, he needed the other guys to push him.
"I was terrible," he says. "I just got good like two years ago." He says he got better by playing off of his friends' ideas. "Everybody got to be in competition, you know what I mean? We have to compete. We have to compete at all times. If you ain't competing, go home."
The growth potential of a four-member group quickly became apparent. In the mid-1990s, Wu-Tang parlayed nine musicians into many more recording contracts with different companies. All of them benefited by appearing on and promoting each others' albums. And just like that group, Punch says Black Hippy can capitalize on the unique fan appeal of each of its members.
"Kendrick he probably bring out the most ladies," says Punch. "Jay Rock brings out the gangsters, the neighborhoods. Q and Ab-Soul, they have a similar thing because they have the whole week culture and the druggies. So that's four different groups. And when they come together all those fanbases intertwine. So it makes everything bigger.
Everything got big enough that the majors came calling again this time not just for one of the rappers, but the whole company. In March, Top Dawg Entertainment entered into a joint venture with Interscope Records, part of the gigantic Universal Music Group. Top says the deal allows them to keep creative control, and their publishing rights. They also keep what they make on tour.
The first record to come out of the deal is a collaboration between Dr. Dre and Kendrick.
This is exactly what Top Dawg and Black Hippy wanted. They're also facing the prospect of leaving the cul de sac they know so well. Dave Free says that's making them all a little nervous.
"Right now it's at such a fetal stage," he says. "You can't just let anybody in. We're still so fresh. This is like our baby. This is all our infant. We don't want anybody touching our kid but us."
But the family's growing, and Top Dawg Entertainment has to find a bigger house.
Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
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