L.A. Reid’s First Post-Sony Signing Is a Member of Outkast (EXCLUSIVE)
L.A. Reid’s first signing since leaving Epic Records in May 2017 is Big Boi of Outkast, Variety has confirmed. Reid’s new company HitCo is working to radio the song “All Night,” which got a big boost of exposure last last year when it was used in an Apple campaign for the iPhone X. The “Animoji Yourself” spot has more than 15 million views on YouTube and is among the top Shazam’ed tags in markets like Japan and France.
Hitco has secured distribution through EMPIRE, the independent company which helped propel such hits at D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” featuring Lil Yachty and Fat Joe and Remy Ma’s “All the Way Up.”
Big Boi has released three solo albums outside of his work with Andre 3000 (ne Andre Benjamin), the other half of Outkast. Reid initially signed the group to Arista when they were just out of high school and went on to see tremendous success including six Grammy Awards won between 2002 and 2004 for the seminal albums “Stankonia” and “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.” Outkast performed a series of reunion shows on the summer festival circuit in 2014. Andre 3000 later described the experience as feeling “like a sellout.”
Big Boi also participated in another offshoot group Big Grams, featuring Phantogram. The experimental hip-hop outfit released a well-received debut EP in 2015 on Epic Records when Reid was chairman and CEO of the label.
According to sources, Reid and fellow Arista veteran Charles Goldstuck have raised well over $100 million to launch Hitco. Offices are planned for New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Reid’s career as a music executive dates back to the 1990s when he founded LaFace Records, a joint venture with Arista Records, which later folded into Sony Music, and yielded hit albums by TLC, Pink and Usher, among others. But in 2017, his exit from Sony was acrimonious as sexual misconduct allegations against him became public.
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