Atlanta, GA (Warner
Music Group) - On December 10, 2005, hip-hop's next big industry executive, Russell "
Block" Spencer, CEO of Block Enterprises, inked a multi-million dollar label deal with Sean "P-Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Worldwide entertainment group and Warner
Music Group (WMG). Not simply a deal to use the Bad Boy label imprint, this unprecedented arrangement will mark the first time
Diddy has entered such a magnanimous agreement.
Block, an Atlanta native, worked from the bottom up to build a solid career for himself and his company, Block Enterprises, circa 2000. He, along with producer Jazze Pha, established Sho-Nuff Records, home of crunk&b sensation Ciara, just after Block worked as president of Suave House. There, he oversaw projects for Tela, 8Ball & MJG, and Crime Boss. Shortly following his time with the Houston-based label, Block became Head A&R for Noontime Records. His impeccable ear for new talent and boundless creativity in artist development caught the attention of P-Diddy as he set to plant his mark in the southern region. Diddy looked no further than Block as his right hand below the Mason Dixon. "When Block and I first met," Diddy remembers, "I realized he had an ear for the streets of the South. Block Ent brought us his first group, Boyz N D Hood, and showed his knowledge of the sound of Atlanta and the South." Ultimately, the successes of hip-hop power group Boyz N Da Hood helped introduce Block Entertainment to the mainstream while catapulting the career of the rapper Young Jeezy.
As Bad Boy South continues to nourish their alliances with Block Entertainment expect new releases from Boyz N Da Hood as well as solo albums from rappers Yung Joc, Big Gee, Jody Breeze, Miami's Rick Ross, and rock n' soul artist Jill Rock Jones. The first off the block is solo rapper Yung Joc, whose song "It's Goin Down," appears on virtually every southern hip-hop mixtape, has remained on both V103's and Hot 107.9's nightly top-chart shows, and has northern industry execs contributing to the big buzz. His Gangsta Grillz mixtape is set for a March release; his first album New Joc City is set for the Summer.
