Anthony Martini (born September 11, 1979) is an American music manager and executive, currently at Royalty Exchange. He was formerly at Crush Management. He was the lead vocalist of the hardcore band E-Town Concrete. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Martini's management career began at Ferret Music where he handled bands like Set Your Goals, Unearth, and Terror until he took a position at Crush Management whose clients include Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Tyga, Lil Dicky and others.
Martini was a partner at Jingle Punks Music which provides music for television, film and video games. Jingle Punks Music has been featured in Billboard, Wired, and Variety and was named "one of America's most promising startups" by Business Week. [6]
Martini is also co-founder and lead singer of the now defunct New Jersey-based Hardcore band, E-Town Concrete. E-town has sold over 120,000 albums worldwide and has toured the US, Japan, Canada, Europe, and the UK. In 2000 they appeared on Ozzy Osbourne's summer tour, Ozzfest, and have had videos on MTV and Fuse. Although the group had been broken up for several years, E-Town Concrete reunited with 2 sold-out shows at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey on 2/20/2009 and have returned to Sayreville every year since.
Martini is originally from Elizabeth, New Jersey and has a younger brother. He met his father when he was in his early twenties. Many of the lyrics in his songs are based on his growing up without a father figure, and his mother, who was forced to play the role of both parents. His strong political views most evident in E-Town's later recordings.
In 2019, Martini created AI rapper FN Meka along with Brandon Le as a product of the company Factory New. Martini was quoted as saying that the "old model of finding talent" is "inefficient and unreliable." [7] In 2022, FN Meka was signed by Capital Records, generating new publicity and controversy over the AI rapper's black skin color and allegedly stereotypical appearance. Social media users labeled the act a "minstrel show" and leveled accusations of appropriation, given that neither of FN Meka's creators, Martini nor Le, are black. Capitol Records responded by dropping the artificial artist, releasing a statement that the company wished to send their "deepest apologies to the Black community for [their] insensitivity". [8]
Martini responded to the criticism in an interview with the New York Times, saying that FN Meka, while relying on AI to create lyrics and music, was still voiced by an anonymous human rapper, who was black. Martini said that FN Meka was “not this malicious plan of white executives. It’s literally no different from managing a human artist, except that it’s digital.” He further asserted that the team creating FN Meka was “actually one of the most diverse teams you can get — I’m the only white person involved.” [9] Martini recently has made comments to music news outlets that directly contradict earlier statements made about all of FN Meka’s lyrics being AI generated, and about the current race of the virtual rapper.
Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Bryan "Baby" Williams. In its early years, Cash Money Records released albums for Juvenile, B.G., and Hot Boys. Distributed by Republic Records, the label has since been home to a roster of mostly hip hop artists, including Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga. The company is regarded as one of the most successful record labels of the 2000s–2010s.
Country rap is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping.
E.Town Concrete, or sometimes called E-Town, is an American hardcore punk band from Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Jingle Punks Music is a music publishing and licensing company headquartered in New York, NY, founded by Jared Gutstadt and Dan Demole in October 2008. The company provides original and licensed music for television, film, video games, and advertisements.
No Ceilings is a mixtape by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was scheduled to be released on October 31, 2009, but was leaked before the official date. No Ceilings was officially released on October 31, 2009, with 4 additional tracks. The mixtape is available as a free and legal download and it received widespread acclaim from critics. An abridged version was officially released to streaming services on August 28, 2020, excluding ten songs.
Careless World: Rise of the Last King is the second studio album by American rapper Tyga. It is his first album under a major label after his independent release, No Introduction. Production for the album took place during 2009 to 2011 and was handled by Jess Jackson, Arthur McArthur, Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da, and Noah "40" Shebib, among others. The album was released on February 21, 2012, on Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Republic Records. The album endured several release dates due to sampling credits, and experienced a limited release in retail stores due to an uncredited use of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop", which was his last speech before he was assassinated on April 4th, 1968. Despite the limited release, the album received strong digital downloads, and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 61,000 copies in its first week. The album has received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release.
"Deuces" is a song written and performed by American singer Chris Brown featuring fellow American musicians Tyga and Kevin McCall. Produced by McCall, "Deuces" was released digitally on June 25, 2010, as the lead single from Brown's first collaborative effort with Tyga, titled Fan of a Fan (2010). The song is a slow, down-tempo R&B ballad featuring elements from the genres of house and pop music, while the song is lyrically about "breaking it off with a girl after failed attempts to make the relationship work". "Deuces" was later included on Brown's fourth studio album, F.A.M.E. (2011).
"John" is a song by American rapper Lil Wayne, and the second single from his album Tha Carter IV. The song features rapper Rick Ross, and it peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. "John" was released on March 24, 2011, on iTunes. The song uses the hook from Rick Ross' song "I'm Not a Star" from his album Teflon Don. The song title is a reference to English musician John Lennon. Lil Wayne performed the song at 2011's MTV Video Music Awards to the riff of Black Sabbath song, Iron Man.
Comedy hip hop or comedy rap is a subgenre of hip hop music designed to be amusing or comedic, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip hop styles.
"Drank in My Cup" is a song by American rapper Kirko Bangz. It is taken from his mixtape Progression 2: A Young Texas Playa. The Sound M.O.B. produced single is his highest-charting song to date and has sold over 1,000,000 copies digitally. The song uses the word 'drank' a number of times as a clear reference to purple drank, a codeine-promethazine cocktail served in Sprite, a drink symbolic of the H-Town hip-hop scene, classically associated with chopped and screwed music. The song is full of references to this music scene, including the slow, relaxed rhythm of the song.
Royalty Exchange is an American company that operates an online platform for buying and selling royalty assets of any type, mostly music, where royalty owners can sell their future payments to investors as alternative assets. The company hosts a centralized marketplace and online auction platform that connects a community of over 22,500+ investors with owners of royalty-based assets.
"Liquor" is a song by American singer Chris Brown, from his seventh studio album Royalty. It was released as the album's lead single on June 26, 2015, by RCA Records.
Durk Derrick Banks, known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper and singer from Chicago, Illinois. He first garnered a regional following with the release of his Signed to the Streets mixtape series (2013–2014), which led to his signing of a recording contract from Def Jam Recordings. The company would release his debut studio album, Remember My Name (2015) and its follow up, Lil Durk 2X (2016) before he parted ways with the label in 2018.
David Andrew Burd, better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, comedian, and actor. He first received recognition after the music video for his 2013 song "Ex-Boyfriend", became a viral hit—earning over one million views on YouTube in 24 hours. He received his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 for his 2014 single "Save Dat Money", which also received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song preceded his debut album, Professional Rapper (2015), which peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and was met with favorable reception.
"Professional Rapper" is a song by American rapper Lil Dicky from his debut studio album of the same name. It was released on July 31, 2015 as the album's fourth single and title track. It was produced by Stan Lane and features a guest appearance by West Coast hip hop artist Snoop Dogg.
Miles Parks McCollum, known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He first gained recognition in August 2015 for his viral hit "One Night" from his debut EP Summer Songs. He then released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016, and signed a joint venture record deal with Motown, Capitol Records, and Quality Control Music in June of that year.
Emo rap is a fusion genre of hip hop and emo music. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as beats and rapping, with the lyrical themes, instrumentals, and vocals commonly found in emo music. Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld are some of the most notable musicians in the genre.
"F.N" is a song by American rapper Lil Tjay, from his second EP of the same name and his debut studio album True 2 Myself (2019). The song was written by Lil Tjay, Artem Romanov, and its producer Vznare. It peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100, being Lil Tjay's highest charting song as a solo artist until 2023.
FN Meka is a fictional rapper/avatar originally developed by Brandon Le in 2019 as part of the company Factory New, with Anthony Martini joining the project in early 2020 as co-founder. Self-described as a "virtual rapper", the project had claimed that the music and lyrics were generated by an AI using thousands of data points compiled from video games and social media. Later, this was called into question when Houston, Texas-based rapper Kyle the Hooligan claimed to be the anonymous human voice behind FN Meka. It is currently the most prominent virtual rapper, with over 10 million followers and over a billion views on TikTok.
"Brand New" is a song by American rappers Tyga, YG and Lil Wayne. It was released on September 27, 2023 as the fourth single from the former two's collaborative album Hit Me When U Leave the Klub: The Playlist (2023). The song was produced by DJ Swish and Mike Crook.