Blackground Records: Американдық жазбалар компаниясының тарихы

American record label

Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground Enterprises, the label switched its name to Blackground Entertainment then later Blackground Records in 2000. In 2021, the label rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0, reviving its company and catalogue onto streaming services, with a partnership with Empire Distribution. It co operated with a publishing company founded by Hankerson, named Black Fountain Music.

Barry Hankerson formed Blackground in 1993, as a result of unsuccessful efforts to sign his niece Aaliyah to big record labels. Using his connection with singer R. Kelly, who he managed at the time, Hankerson obtained a contract with Jive to distribute the release of Aaliyah's debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.

After Aaliyah and R. Kelly parted ways, Jive and Blackground agreed to terminate their contract in 1996 and Hankerson signed a lucrative distribution deal with Craig Kallman at Atlantic. Months later Aaliyah released her second studio LP, One in a Million, and Blackground signed two singing groups, Both Ends and Kashmere (their music was never released). After positive reviews for Aaliyah's album, her producer Timbaland got his own artist deal with Blackground and in 1997 released Welcome to Our World, a collaboration album with rapper Magoo, as well as his solo album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment in 1998. Aaliyah's backup singer Tank also got his contract with Blackground in 1998.

After Atlantic contract expiration in 2000, Blackground switched over to Virgin. Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the soundtrack to the 2000 film Romeo Must Die, in which she made her acting debut. Aaliyah contributed four songs to the soundtrack. "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7" single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States. In 2001, after the death of Aaliyah, her self titled and final album Aaliyah rose to #1 on the Billboard 200 becoming Blackground's first number one and best selling album. Aaliyah sold over 13 million albums worldwide. Aaliyah's plane crash in August 2001 resulted in Blackground and Virgin parting ways a few weeks later. A new distribution deal was signed with Universal Records in December 2001.

ActYear signedStudio albums released under BlackgroundAaliyah1993–2001Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, One in a Million, AaliyahTimbaland1996–2012Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment, Shock Value, Shock Value IITimbaland & Magoo1996–2012Welcome to Our World, Indecent Proposal, Under Construction, Part IITank2000–2009Force of Nature, One Man, Sex, Love & PainJoJo2004–2013JoJo, The High RoadToni Braxton2003–2007LibraAshley Parker Angel2004–2008Soundtrack to Your LifeStatic Major1997–2008 J. Lewis2010–2011 Crystal Nicole2010–2012 Autumn Marini2021–2023 Elijah Connor2021–2022 Miracle King2022–2023 Final Draft2022–present Yung Booke2023–present Rob Jones Winn2022–present London Cheshire2023–present Mylo Waiters2023–present Max Luiz2023–present Tyreece Greene2023–present