Roc-A-Fella Records' backstory will get the television treatment
Music industry executive and Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash will collaborate with television producer Lemuel Plummer (executive producer of "Preachers of LA") to create a tell-all series about one-time powerhouse music label Roc-A-Fella Records (via Deadline).
Damon Dash Studios and L. Plummer Media are jointly developing the project. It's the second venture between the pair, having previously worked together on Plummer's BET series "Music Moguls."
The series will follow the label's founding trio (Dash, Kareem Burke, and Shawn Carter aka Jay Z) as they grow the company throughout the early 2000s into a hip-hop empire. The three men established Roc-A-Fella in order to release Jay Z's first album, "Reasonable Doubt," after it had been passed over by other labels.
Tensions between the founders had mounted steeply, and Roc-A-Fella was sold to The Island Def Jam Music Group. Dash and Burke moved on to less visible endeavors, but Jay Z remained in the spotlight. In 2004, he became president and CEO of Def Jam, as appointed by the label's chairman L.A. Reid, who was seduced by his entrepreneurial savvy. The rapper's executive position lasted until December 2007; thereafter he founded entertainment company Roc Nation in 2008 and acquired Tidal (a subscription-based music streaming service with exclusive content) from a Swedish company in 2015.
Roc-A-Fella continued to release records as a Def Jam imprint, but since 2010 the name has been more or less exclusive to releases by Jay Z and Kanye West.
The television show's point of view will heavily favor -- or at least feature -- Dash: it will examine him as a business mogul who dealt not only in music but in sportswear, film, and alcohol ventures. The show will also address the relationships in the public eye that Dash had with R&B singer Aaliyah and fashion designer Rachel Roy.
Recent HBO series like "Vinyl" (also about the music industry) and "The People v. O.J. Simpson" will figure as influences, according to Dash and Plummer.
Fittingly, the show will showcase an iconic soundtrack mining from their past catalogue. Roc-A-Fella's lineup included Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleak and DJ Clue, and viewers can anticipate audio from them.
