Author: Cory McClanahan

Since taking over Sony Music’s Epic Records in July, label chairman and X Factor judge L.A. Reid has been busy erasing the company’s tarnished image and rebuilding its roster, which will soon include Outkast and Ciara, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Reid has a long history with both acts, who were originally signed to his LaFace Records (label home to a young Usher, Pink and TLC). In 1994, LaFace, which had entered into a joint venture partnership with Sony’s Arista Records in 1989, released Outkast’s debut album, Southern-playalisticadillacmuzik. Ten years later, with Reid nearing the end of his presidency at Arista, the duo’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below sold 11 million copies and won six Grammy awards.  Ciara came into the LaFace fold in 2004 with her first album, Goodies. It featured the hit song “1, 2 Step” and has sold more than 2.5 million copies. Her most recent release, 2010’s Basic Instinct, came out via Jive Records. That label is being phased out due to recent consolidation and reshuffling among Sony’s labels, which also include Columbia and RCA, resulting in dozens of layoffs in recent weeks.    Other Reid-era Epic signings include Atlanta MC Future, whose reported first single “Tony Montana” features popular rapper Drake, and Karmin, the duo known for its quirky interpretations of popular hip-hop tracks like Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” and Lil Wayne’s “6 Foot 7 Foot.” But at the premiere party for X Factor on Wednesday night, Reid told THR that the twosome of Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan are not recording covers for their Epic debut, but rather original tracks. The executive cited his own days as a young struggling performer and songwriter, when having cover songs in your repertoire was de rigueur.

The allegation was included in a letter containing evidence against James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond, the CEO of Czar Entertainment and manager of rapper the Game, who was indicted on 18 felony charges this week for his role in drug trafficking ring. Rosemond is being held without bail in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. A yearlong Drug Enforcement Administration investigation states that the Los Angeles offices of Interscope Records were used for pickups and deliveries of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in 2010 and 2011. Shipping company Rock-It Cargo, which has a lengthy list of musical clients, shipped music cases that allegedly contained drugs to New York studios. A spokesperson for Universal Music, of which Interscope is a division, had not responded by Billboard’s request for comment at press time. Using 65 pages of records from Rock-It Cargo, prosecutor Todd Kaminsky said the documents were “specifically referencing pickups and deliveries at … Interscope Records” and a recording studio on Manhattan’s West Side. The Smoking Gun reported that the road manager for Game, who records for Interscope, was also implicated in Rock-It Cargo’s records. According to the indictments, road cases containing cocaine would arrive at music studios in New York City for sale by Rosemond’s associates. The cash proceeds would then be loaded in the cases and shipped back to Los Angeles. They used the alias “Peter Davis” for shipping and renting studios. After a road case was seized in early 2011, Rosemond allegedly switched to using automobiles with hidden compartments to ship drugs. The Smoking Gun reported that Khalil Abdullah, a Rosemond associate who recently pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking and obstruction of justice charges, struck a cooperation deal with prosecutors. Late last year, Abdullah tipped DEA agents that a case containing nearly $800,000 was about to be shipped to Los Angeles from New York, which they then seized.