Unexpected Records is a Dutch record label founded by composer/producer Perquisite, who was part of the hip hop duo Pete Philly & Perquisite.
The label was founded in 2001, in Amsterdam, with the main goal of focusing on Hip hop, Nu jazz and Groove based music. Their best selling albums so far have been Mindstate and Mystery Repeats by Pete Philly & Perquisite, Lovestruck Puzzles by Kris Berry & Perquisite, and High On You by Jeangu Macrooy. Unexpected Records has collaborated with various labels and distributors worldwide, including PIAS and Epitaph Records in Europe, P-Vine Records in Japan, ANTI- in the US and Music Aroma in Korea.
The label has released albums with or collaborated with the following artists:
Dutch hip hop or Nederhop ("Netherhop") is hip hop / rap music created by Dutch speaking musicians in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). Although the first Dutch rappers in Europe typically wrote in the English language, this began to change when Osdorp Posse gained a big following of fans. They were the first to record and release hip hop in the Dutch language, perform for big crowds and to achieve chart success with their albums.
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll, and jazz and comedy recordings, released on the Chess and its subsidiary labels Checker and Argo/Cadet. The Chess catalogue is owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records and Universal Music Enterprises.
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. Raised in Atlanta as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music production at the age of nine. He discovered the teen hip hop duo Kris Kross in 1991. Dupri wrote and produced their 1992 single "Jump," which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was named the 23rd most successful song of that decade. He established his own record label, So So Def Recordings in a joint venture with Columbia the following year.
Peter O. Phillips, better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American music producer, DJ and rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, RZA, and Q-Tip as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Early on in his career, he was also famed for his remix work.
Kris Kross were an American hip hop group, consisting of rappers Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith, and producer Jermaine Dupri. Kris Kross was the youngest hip-hop group to gain success, with gold and platinum albums at 12 and 13 years old. Smith and Kelly were discovered by Dupri in 1991 and hit worldwide status the following year with their smash hit debut single, "Jump", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and was certified double platinum as a single. They went on to release three studio albums, with their debut album Totally Krossed Out topping the US Billboard 200, and their following albums, Da Bomb and Young, Rich & Dangerous making it into the Top 20. The duo were also noted for their signature fashion style of wearing their clothes backwards. Kelly died of a drug overdose on May 1, 2013.
Kendrick Jeru Davis, known as Jeru the Damaja, is an American rapper and record producer. He is known for his 1993 single "Come Clean" from his debut album, The Sun Rises in the East, ranked as one of the 100 greatest hip-hop albums of all time by the editors of About.com. He has worked extensively with Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr, whom he has known since he was in high school.
Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics is a double-disc album containing previously shelved albums Center of Attention, by InI, and The Original Baby Pa, by Deda. Released on October 27, 2003 on BBE Records. Both albums were recorded in 1995 and produced entirely by Pete Rock, except for five overall tracks produced either by Grap Luva or Spunk Bigga. Neither album had been officially released until this compilation came out.
Pete Philly & Perquisite is a hip hop duo from the Netherlands consisting of Pedro Philip Monzón as the MC/vocalist and Pieter "Perquisite" Perquin as the cellist, producer and composer of all the music. Their music is best described as hip hop with influences from jazz, broken beat and soul. They usually performed live together with DJ PCM, Remco Keijzer on saxophone, EWI and flute, Kasper Kalf on double-bass and Ruben Hein on keys.
Mindstate is the debut album by Dutch hip hop duo Pete Philly and Perquisite released in early 2005. It was critically acclaimed and received a Zilveren Harp in 2006. Also in 2006, Mindstate was released in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Remindstate is the remixed version of Mindstate, the debut album by Dutch hip hop duo Pete Philly and Perquisite. The album was released on January 13, 2006 on Epitaph.
Mystery Repeats is the second full-length album by Dutch hip hop duo Pete Philly and Perquisite. The album was released on 7 September 2007 in the Netherlands and Japan on ANTI- Records.
Daniel Domingo Carrillo, better known by his stage name Termanology, is an American rapper and record producer. He first gained major attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, Politics as Usual, was released in 2008. He has made a number of collaborative albums, such as 1982 and is known also for his prolific mixtape output. He is of Puerto Rican and French descent.
Mello Music Group (MMG) is an American independent record label based in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 2007, Mello Music has released hip hop compilations and albums by producers and rappers such as Oddisee, Apollo Brown, Mr. Lif, Ghostface Killah, Open Mike Eagle, L'Orange, Quelle Chris, Jean Grae, Kool Keith, Nottz, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Pete Rock, and Rapper Big Pooh. In 2012, MTV Hive described MMG as having a "dedication to intelligent, street-wise boom bap", although the label has released a number of purely instrumental albums as well. In 2016, Forbes magazine called Mello Music Group the most successful indie rap label of the decade.
Pieter Perquin, better known under the pseudonym Perquisite, is a Dutch musician, music producer and composer.
The Netherlands originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Grow" written by Jeangu Macrooy and Pieter Perquin. The song was performed by Jeangu Macrooy, who was internally selected to represent the Netherlands at the 2020 contest. In addition to its participation, the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS was also set to host the contest in Rotterdam, after winning the competition in 2019 with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Macrooy's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 10 January 2020, while the song, "Grow", was presented to the public on 4 March 2020.
High on You is the debut studio album by Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy. It was released on 14 April 2017 by Unexpected Records. The album includes the singles "Step Into the Water", "Crazy Kids", "High On You" and "Tell Me Father". The album peaked at number 69 on the Dutch Albums Chart. In 2018, it was nominated for Best Album at the Edison Awards.
"Grow" is a song by Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy. Released on 4 March 2020, the song would have represented host nation the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.
Kris Berry is a Dutch singer.
The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Birth of a New Age" written by Jeangu Macrooy and Pieter Perquin. The song was performed by Jeangu Macrooy, who was internally selected to represent the Netherlands at the 2021 contest after he was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Grow" before the event's cancellation. In addition to its participation, the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS also hosted the contest in Rotterdam, after winning the competition in 2019 with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Macrooy's re-appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 18 March 2020, while the song, "Birth of a New Age", was presented to the public during a special live broadcast on 4 March 2021.
"Birth of a New Age" is a song by Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy. The song represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The music video was recorded in the Rijksmuseum. In the song, Macrooy calls for resilience and authenticity. The song is mostly written in English and partly in Sranan Tongo, a lingua franca in Suriname.