Ja Rule’s credibility may have taken a hit after his Fox News appearance and had his own bad habit of passing up good opportunities. However, I think he makes a valid point about TVT Records. According to Ja, the label’s founder passed up several other major acts, which could have made it the most instrumental label in hip-hop history. Find out who TVT passed on after the jump!
Ja Rule sat down with Vlad TV and discussed how TVT Records could have been one of the biggest record labels in history. The now-defunct record label was known for housing major artists like Mic Geronimo, rock group Nine Inch Nails, Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz, and more. They also were notorious for passing up major acts in the early ’90s like Dr. Dre and his Chronic album.
In the beginning on his career, Ja Rule ran around with his Cash Money Click. TeeVee Toons (TVT) Records CEO and founder Steve Gottlieb signed Ja Rule for a minor deal, but wasn’t interested in his CMC cohorts Chris Black and 0-1. Then, when Irv Gotti brought Jay Z and DMX to TVT, Gottlieb wasn’t feeling either rapper so he turned them down too.
“When I look back on it, that label could have been humongous. It could’ve been a big, big Rap label. He [Gottlieb] didn’t like The Chronic. He didn’t get it. He didn’t get DMX and Jay Z. He fucked over Nine inch Nails and fucked me over.”
Before Ja Rule’s name was in the conversation, Gottlieb had already developed a habit for turning down artists who would eventually become legendary. When Dr. Dre was shopping The Chronic around to different record labels, TVT was the first place he brought it to. Ja said that there was one more highly successful emcee that Gottlieb turned away.
“They had the chance to sign a new up-and-coming artist named Snoop Dogg, because Dr. Dre brought The Chronic album to TVT first.”
Mind-blowing, isn’t it? Ja also described how he got his major deal with Def Jam and recalled his frustrations when Gottlieb made it difficult to break his TVT contract. Watch the full interview below.
