Founder Kevin Nottingham Genre Hip-Hop Official website www.hipnottrecords.com Distributor EMPIRE Distribution | Status Active Location Washington, D.C. Founded 2009 Country of origin United States of America | |
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Albums The Corners Involved Profiles | ||
HiPNOTT Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent hip-hop record label founded by hip-hop blogger Kevin Nottingham of KevinNottingham.com. Founded in 2009, the label has worked with a wide range of artists such as Tanya Morgan, The Regiment, Substantial, Gods’Illa, Jermiside, Cymarshall Law, Spectac & Amiri, MarQ Spekt, P.SO the Earth Tone King, MidaZ the BEAST, junclassic, and many more.
Contents
History
HiPNOTT Records was founded in 2009 by hip-hop blogger Kevin Nottingham. During the music industry's "blog era" of the late 2000s, KevinNottingham.com rose in popularity as a site for independent hip-hop artists. In 2009, approached by Matt Diamond of Coalmine Records for distribution, Nottingham formed the label HiPNOTT Records.
The label's first official release was the digital single "Don't Act Like I Never Told You" by Atlanta producer/emcee Nobody Famous This led to the first album release Order Up! Volume 3: Chicken & Waffles by Nobody Famous.
In 2010, the label released its mixtape series HiPNOTT Records 2010 Takeover, presented by HipHopDX and DJ Booth. The 2 mixtape series included tracks from HiPNOTT artists K. Sparks, Spectac & Amiri, Cymarshall Law, Trav Williams, Has-Lo, Ravin Sorvino, as well as tracks from industry cohorts Kyle Lucas, Wax, Truck North, Chaundon, Mach Five, Emilio Rojas, and many more. The mixtapes, mixed by DJ Mark-1, featured shout outs from the likes of Statik Selektah, Talib Kweli, Phonte of Little Brother and Foreign Exchange, and many others.
Following the mixtape, HiPNOTT Records released one album a month during the beginning of 2010. Starting with Cymarshall Law's The Creator's Kid EP in January, K. Sparks' A Day In The Life in February, and followed by albums from Spectac & Amiri, Jermiside & Danny Diggs, Everliven Sound and E Reece. Rounding out 2010, HiPNOTT Records released the debut solo album from producer Amiri, The Recipe.
HiPNOTT Records orchestrated a stage at the A3C Hip Hop Festival in October 2010 which included performances by artists on the roster, as well as Rapper Big Pooh of Little Brother and El Da Sensei of the Artifacts.
In August 2011, HiPNOTT Records signed a distribution deal with Soulspazm Records. This deal would allow Soulspazm the rights to distribute HiPNOTT's catalog digitally, as Coalmine Records had done the prior year. During this time HiPNOTT also got into the physical compact disc game by manufacturing CDs through Kunaki and distributing them via Fat Beats. The first physical CDs manufactured on HiPNOTT were Amiri's The Recipe and Mode 7 by Jazz Spastiks and junclassic.
After the signing of the deal with Soulspazm, HiPNOTT promptly released The Panic Button by The Regiment. During this album's promotion, HiPNOTT started servicing singles to college radio. The first single serviced to radio Pete Marriot's "The Champ Is Here" went to #1, whereas "Bust Ya Melon" from Mode 7 hit the #2 spot on college radio.
In 2012, Nottingham took a break once again from HiPNOTT Records to concentrate on the production of the documentary DEMOS: An Independent Artists' Guide To Success. The only albums to come out in 2012 from HiPNOTT include Amiri's sophomore album Vinyl Ritchie and 100dBs & Ryan-O'Neil's Tea & Spliffs. HiPNOTT also partnered with Tanya Morgan for the physical release of their album You & What Army. The CD, which was released in the summer of 2012 included 3 bonus remixes not available on the previously digital only release.
In 2013, South Carolina emcee, Spectac delivered two albums for release on HiPNOTT; For The People produced by DJ Shakim and Soul Beautiful produced by Amiri. This year the label released of those two albums plus a solo album from Tanya Morgan member Von Pea (Duly Noted.), an album from junclassic (BLVD Backdrop), MidaZ The BEAST (AU: Another Universe), Live Percenters (The Corners Involved), Jermiside & Danny Diggs (Quiet As Kept), the official DEMOS Soundtrack, and a compilation (25 to Life) celebrating the 25th album release from HiPNOTT Records. 2013 was also the year of HiPNOTT's first vinyl release. Thanks to a successful Pledge Music campaign by Spectac & Amiri, the label was able to press the album Soul Beautiful on 12" vinyl.
By 2014, Nottingham started signing projects from reputable underground artists looking for an outlet for release on HiPNOTT Records. This year the label released another new album from Amiri (This Is Part Time), an album from P.SO the Earth Tone King (Gateway to Greatness/Constellations), The Other Guys (Seeds of Ambition), and MarQ Spekt & Blockhead (Sumofitsparts). During this year, HiPNOTT got into the business of music licensing. The first placement received was Amiri's "Check It Out Ya'll" from This Is Part Time. The song was licensed to ESPN for the network's show First Take.
In 2015, Nottingham signed with EMPIRE Distribution for digital distro; leaving his long standing relationship with Soulspazm behind. In addition, Nottingham hired OSI of The Regiment as a HiPNOTT’s Creative Director, helping the label to expand its reach and build the brand; and Substantial as Head of A&R, to assist in developing HiPNOTT’s artists and bring in new talent. During this time HiPNOTT Records signed The Regiment, Substantial, Gods'Illa, and Tanya Morgan to be the label's key figures alongside The Other Guys and Amiri.