Uptown Records was an American record label, founded by Andre Harell in the late-1980s. It went on to become one of the most popular hip hop and R&B label of the early 1990s, and featured Heavy D, Christopher Williams, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Monifah, and Soul 4 Real on its roster. A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Hip hop music is a style of popular music. ... Rhythm and blues (or R & B) is a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Billboard magazine. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Heavy D. & the Boyz was an American hip hop group led by 250-lb Heavy D., who is known for his wild boastings about his sexual prowess. ... Christopher Williams is an African-American R&B singer, best known for being an artist on Uptown Records in the 1990s. ... Jodeci was an American musical group, active from 1990 to 1996, whose repertoire included R&B, soul music, and new jack swing. ... Mary J Blige on her album Mary Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971 in The Bronx, New York ) is a popular African-American R&B and soul singer, songwriter and producer. ... Soul for Real was a teenage R&B group from the mid 1990s. ...

Uptown was a starting ground for Sean "Diddy" Combs, who started as an intern and later became a top executive. Combs was instrumental in developing Jodeci and signing and producing for Mary J. Blige. He was fired from Uptown in 1993, and went on to establish Bad Boy Records, taking new hip-hop artist The Notorious B.I.G. with him. In North America, an intern is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on education rather than merely employment, making it similar in some respects to an apprenticeship. ... In the music industry, a record producer is responsible for completing a master recording so that it is fit for release. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Bad Boy Records is an East Coast hip hop record label founded by producer/rapper Sean Diddy Combs in 1993 after his power climb from a no-pay internship to A&R executive at Uptown Records was terminated by the then CEO Andre Harrell. ... Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1971 – March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in 1975s Lets Do it Again) and Frank White (from King of New York), but best known as The Notorious B.I.G (Business Instead of Game and, since his death...

The label was acquired by MCA Records in 1990. Harell left Uptown in 1994 to become the CEO of Motown Records, and Heavy D became the president of Uptown. By 1996, Uptown was dissolved and its artists wewre moved to the MCA roster. The Music Corporation of America, commonly known as MCA, is a United States based corporation in the music business. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Motown, also known as Tamla-Motown outside the U.S., is a record label founded on December 14, 1959 by Berry Gordy, Jr. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

See also

• List of record labels