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Rell | |
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| Born | July 22, 1976 |
| Origin | Bowman, South Carolina, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1997–present |
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Gerrell Gaddis (born July 22, 1976), better known by his stage name Rell, is an American R&B singer and songwriter from Bowman, South Carolina. He was the first male R&B singer to sign to New York City-based label Roc-A-Fella Records, where he recorded with artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Consequence, and Young Gunz.
Rell grew up in Bowman, and is a former South Carolina State University pre-med student. He signed to Roc-A-Fella Records in 1997, and began work on his debut album which was tentatively titled, Medicine. Rell got his break in 1998, appearing in Jay-Z's rap cult flick Streets Is Watching and contributing the club banger "Love for Free" to the movie's soundtrack and would later be featured on his debut album. Within the latter part of 1998, Rell renamed his debut, The Remedy, and re-released, "Love for Free" as the lead single. In 1999, two other singles ("When Will U See" and "Darlin'") were released as radio buzz singles for the album, however, within the first quarter of that year, The Remedy was shelved due to the failed charting of his album's singles. Still signed to the Roc, Rell went on to sing hooks for nearly every Roc-a-Fella MC since, including Jay-Z's "It's Obvious" and Freeway's "Victim of the Ghetto", and appearing on "The Message" featuring Mary J. Blige, from Dr. Dre's 2001 .
In 2001, Rell met agreeable terms with Jay-Z, and began retooling for his cancelled debut, The Remedy. The project spawned a new and official lead single titled, "If That's My Baby". While the album was scheduled for a September release, after the release of another single, "It's Obvious", the album was slated to be released in spring 2002. In early 2002, yet again the expected reworked version of The Remedy was shelved.
In 2004, Rell began work on yet another project, titled Long Time Coming. In promotion of the album, Rell released several leftover tracks from his cancelled project The Remedy on numerous mixtapes and limited Roc-a-Fella EP samplers. Rell eventually released "Real Love" as the lead single for Long Time Coming in 2005. However, in the midst of the release, Rell was moved from the Roc label to Dame Dash Music Group. Under the new label, Long Time Coming was to be released in May 2006. Unfortunately disagreements and lack of promotion from the new label ended up shelving Rell's album and he initially split from the label.
In 2007, collaborations with Latin reggaeton artists Don Omar and Zion saw releases. Rell wrote the title track for Usher's 2008 album Here I Stand . Also in 2008, Rell partnered with Nate Pitts, CEO of Right Arm Music Group, the Charlotte-based indie record label which is the home for producers Dale Williams, Shabbykat Production and Dark Sun Production.
In 2009, Rell teamed with Tre Williams to form The Revelations. They released their debut album, The Bleeding Edge, on October 6, 2009. [1] [2] [3] [4]
In 2011, Rell wrote "Love Contract" on Musiq Soulchild's album, MusiqInTheMagiq .
1The song was to be released on Rell's first version of The Remedy but was re-recorded for Young Gunz and a possible track for Rell's other unreleased project, Long Time Coming.
Cam'ron Giles, known mononymously as Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance "Un" Rivera's Untertainment, an imprint of Epic Records to release his first two studio albums Confessions of Fire (1998) and S.D.E. (2000); the former received gold certification by the RIAA. After leaving Epic, Giles signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001 to release his third studio album, Come Home with Me, the following year. It received platinum certification by the RIAA and spawned the singles "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma", which peaked at numbers four and three on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His fourth studio album, Purple Haze (2004) was met with similar success and likewise received gold certification by the RIAA.
Leslie Edward Pridgen, better known by his stage name Freeway, is an American rapper. Originally hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he first gained recognition after appearing on Jay-Z's fifth album, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia in 2000. The following year, he became a member of the Philadelphia-based hip hop collective State Property, which were signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings. After releasing their debut album, Pridgen signed to Roc-A-Fella as a solo artist and began work on his debut album, Philadelphia Freeway (2003). Upon release, the album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and saw positive critical response. He released a follow-up, Free at Last (2007) to moderate reception before him and fellow State Property cohorts were dropped from the label.
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. Carter issued his debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996) as the label's first release, in a joint venture with Priority Records. The label has signed and released albums for acts including Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Juelz Santana, Freeway, Jadakiss, Teairra Marí, State Property, and The Diplomats before its dissolution in 2013.
Malik Deshawn Cox, known by his stage name Memphis Bleek, is an American rapper. He is best known for his affiliation with fellow New York City-based rapper Jay-Z, with Cox often described as his hype man and protégé. Cox signed with his Roc-A-Fella Records label imprint in the late 1990s, through which he has released four major label studio albums: Coming of Age (1999), The Understanding (2000), M.A.D.E. (2003), and 534 (2005). He has since founded his own labels: Get Low Records in 1998, and Warehouse Music Group in 2016—through which he signed rapper Casanova.
Dwight Equan Grant, better known by his stage name Beanie Sigel, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his association with Jay-Z and his label Roc-A-Fella Records, to which Grant signed in 1998 and became a flagship artist. His debut studio album, The Truth (2000) was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number five on the Billboard 200. Along with his solo career, Grant was the de facto leader of the Philadelphia-based hip hop collective State Property, which he formed with Roc-A-Fella labelmates, and who debuted in 2002 with a namesake film in which Grant starred. The group released two well-received studio albums.
State Property is a hip hop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, led by rapper Beanie Sigel with fellow Philadelphia rappers Freeway, Peedi Crakk, Oschino Vasquez, and Omillio Sparks, and the duo Young Gunz. Formed in 2000, they signed with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records to release two studio albums: their eponymous debut album (2002) and The Chain Gang Vol. 2 (2003), both of which saw critical and commercial success. The former album accompanied the namesake film in which the group starred, while its sequel was released in 2005 and mainly starred Sigel. Each member was dropped from the label in late 2007, leaving the future of the group in question.
Young Gunz is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rappers Young Chris and Neef Buck. The group is part of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective and were signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. Young Gunz' 2003 debut single, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", reached the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Dynasty: Roc-La-Familia is the fifth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, featuring prominent appearances from signees of Roc-A-Fella Records. It was released on October 31, 2000, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Its lead single, "I Just Wanna Love U ", produced by the Neptunes, became one of Jay-Z's most successful singles peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, with 557,789 copies sold in its first week. The album is certified double platinum by the RIAA. The album received positive reviews from critics, and became the 20th highest-selling R&B/Hip-Hop album of the 2000–2010 decade according to Billboard.
The Diplomats is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jimmy Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew up together in Harlem. In 1999, fellow Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana joined the group.
Amil Kahala Whitehead is an American former rapper and singer. Based in New York City, she signed with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, in a joint venture with Columbia Records in 1997. The following year, she appeared alongside Ja Rule on his single "Can I Get A..." for the Rush Hour film soundtrack.
Pedro Louis Zayas, better known by his stage names Peedi Crakk or Peedi Peedi, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his guest appearances on Freeway's 2003 single "Flipside" and Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). He was a member of the Roc-A-Fella Records group State Property, and was signed to G-Unit Philly. He is of Puerto Rican descent.
Diplomat Records is an American hip hop record label co-founded by Harlem rappers Jim Jones and Cam'ron.
Roosevelt Harrell III, known professionally as Bink, is an American hip hop producer from Norfolk, Virginia, who is noted for his work with Roc-A-Fella Records artists. His most high-profile work has been Jay-Z's critically acclaimed album The Blueprint, for which he produced three tracks. He is sometimes credited as Bink! or Bink Dog. In 2011, Bink and American-reggae artist Atiba finished a collaborative album titled Foreigner. A release date for the project has yet to be announced.
534 is the fourth studio album by rapper Memphis Bleek. It was released by Get Low Records, Roc-A-Fella Records, and Def Jam Recordings on May 17, 2005. The album was executive produced Bleek's mentor and childhood friend Jay-Z, who also recorded the song "Dear Summer" for the album. Other guests include Young Gunz, M.O.P., and Rihanna, whose appearance on the song "The One" was the major label debut.
Christopher Francis Ries, known professionally as Young Chris, is an American rapper. He rose to fame as one-half of the Philadelphia-based hip hop duo Young Gunz, which he formed with rapper Neef Buck in 2001. That same year, the duo joined the larger Philadelphia-based hip hop group State Property; both acts were signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records by the same time.
Tough Luv is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Young Gunz. It was released on February 24, 2004 via Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions took place at Sony Music Studios, Baseline Studios and Quad Recording in New York, and at The Studio and Homebase Studios in Philadelphia. Production was handled by Chad Hamilton, Just Blaze, Bink!, Boola, Darrell "Digga" Branch, Ez Elpee, Ruggedness and Scott Storch, with Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke serving as executive producers. It features guest appearances from Denim, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron, Chingy, Freeway, Jay-Z, Juelz Santana, Omillio Sparks and Rell.
Tre Williams is an American singer, formerly affiliated with Nas' label, Ill Will Records.
Rapid Fire is a mixtape by Philadelphia rap-duo Young Gunz. It was recorded in 2005, but was not released until January 29, 2008. Unlike the previous two albums by Young Chris and Neef Buck, the album was not a Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam release, but a release on their own record label, named Young Gunz Media. Most of these tracks had appeared on several mixtapes, and Rapid Fire is therefore different from Tough Luv and Brothers from Another. There are three appearances by Pooda Brown, one from Rell and one from Deemi.
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