Website www.decon.co | Founded 2002 | |
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Key people Peter Bittenbender (co-founder, CEO)
Jason Goldwatch (co-founder) CEO Peter Bittenbender (Aug 2002–) Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Founders Peter Bittenbender, Jason Goldwatch Artists The Alchemist, Aceyalone, Roc Marciano, Dilated Peoples, Gangrene Albums Gutter Water, Vodka & Ayahuasca, Reloaded, Magnificent City, Fish Outta Water Profiles | ||
Infant sorrow going up
Decon is a New York-based creative studio. Housing production, creative, strategy and music divisions, the company creates campaigns on behalf of brands and advertising agencies.
Contents
History
Originally named Deconstruction Company, the company was founded in 2002 by Peter Bittenbender and Jason Goldwatch after the creation of their award-winning hip-hop documentary and accompanying soundtrack, One Big Trip. The soundtrack was released as a double-sided DVD/CD in 2002 with Hieroglyphic Imperium Records - it is thought to be the first hip-hop-centric release in the hybrid format.
In 2012, Decon earned a Promax Award for work on NBCUniversal's "Green Week" campaign. That year, Misha Louy and Sacha Jenkins both joined as partners, expanding the Production and Entertainment divisions.
Decon Records
Decon Records is the independent record label that is a division of Decon. It got its start releasing underground hip-hop recordings. It was established in 2003. In 2013, Decon Records was noted as one of Billboard’s 50 Best Independent Labels in America. Decon Records began by collaborating with the west coast collective Project Blowed to release projects from Aceyalone of the Freestyle Fellowship, such as Love & Hate which features production from El-P and RJD2. Other early Decon Records projects include partnering with The Roots to establish Okayplayer Records. The label provided further releases from Aceyalone as well as RJD2’s Magnificent City Instrumentals (2006) and Evidence’s Red Tape Instrumentals (2007). In 2008, the label released an album from frequent Talib Kweli and Mos Def collaborator, 88-Keys, called The Death of Adam. The album featured Kid Cudi and Redman and was executive produced by Kanye West. The video for the lead single “Stay Up! (Viagra)” was directed by Decon co-founder Jason Goldwatch and premiered on MTV.
The following year, Decon licensed RJD2’s “A Beautiful Mine” as the theme song for the AMC show Mad Men. That year, Decon released Jay Electronica's Just Blaze-produced tracks "Exhibit A" and "Exhibit C". While collaborating with Decon Records, Jay won two awards from MTV and signed a deal with Roc Nation.
The Alchemist’s Russian Roulette, Gangrene’s Vodka & Ayahuasca, and Roc Marciano’s Reloaded all made the HipHopDX 2012 records of the year awards list., and were favorably reviewed in Complex Magazine. XXL singled out Roc Marciano’s Decon Records release, Reloaded, as the “Best Slept-On Album” of that year. Early album releases saw Decon working alongside Project Blowed and Okayplayer. In 2011, Decon earned recognition from Billboard as one of the 50 Best Indie Labels in America.