awkus Records was one of the first independent hip-hop record labels to successfully leave the underground and reach a commercial audience. Their road to success was paved by a simple business plan: spend the money for talent that offered more content than artists on major labels and make it available to the masses. Formed in the mid nineties by college students Jarret Myer and Bryan Brater, Rawkus was designed to help bring the Native-Tongue movement to the masses, utilizing collaborations between label and non-label artists and showing a willingness to allow artists to express themselves.

Rawkus’ strength, in their early days, was the fact that they represented quality music and artistic freedom within hip hop. The Soundbombing and Lyricist Lounge compilations were both full of strong independent hip-hop from artists both famous and unknown. Early in the history of Rawkus, Company Flow released a critically acclaimed album in Funcrusher Plus that remains hallowed by underground fans, launching the career of the seminal group and its group members, El-P, Mr. Len, and Bigg Jus. Rawkus also showed an uncanny knack for making stars out of artists like Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli. After a few gold selling albums, Rawkus rose to the status of mid-major and began to make major moves like signing the late, great Big L to a deal shortly before his death and acquiring respected veteran Kool G Rap in a heated bidding war for his services. However, while Rawkus made the jump in prominence to mid-major from independent, the label seemed to far below its previous standards in the area of its management. Many of their albums on the label were delayed and pushed back, and Kool G Rap’s album was torn apart twice by bootleggers, who got their hands on the original and the redone copy, and has so far been delayed nearly a year and a half.

In early 2002 Rawkus realized their budget outweighed their expectations and was sold to major label MCA to receive greater funding. Future releases from Rawkus include Kool G Rap’s Giancana Stories, Talib Kweli’s Ekwelity (working title), Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson’s first collaboration, and Phaorahe Monch’s as yet untitled follow up to his solo debut. MCA is responsible for the excellent handling of Rawkus-affiliated artists like Common and Blackalicious and hopefully will continue to do the same in the future, allowing Rawkus to straighten up their distribution, and release their material on time while maintaining the quality they originally featured when they were still a small independent.

Label Roster: Phaoahoe Monch, Sir Menelik, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Big L, High & Mighty, Smut Peddlers, Hi-Tek, Kool J Rap, and Mad Skillz.

Ten Essential Releases:
Pharoahe Monch – Internal Affairs
Various Artists – Soundbombing
Various Artists – Soundbombing 2
Various Artists – Lyricist Lounge
Mos Def – Black on Both Sides
Big L – The Big Picture
High & Mighty – Home Field Advantage
Reflection Eternal (DJ Hi-Tek & Talib Kweli) – Train of Thought
Smut Peddlers – Porn Again
Hi – Tek – Hi Teknology