Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment (sometimes abbreviated RSE^[1]) is an American independent hip-hop record label based in Minneapolis.^[2][3]

Rhymesayers Entertainment
Founded	1995 (1995)
Founder	Sean Daley (Slug) Anthony Davis (Ant) Musab Saad (Sab the Artist) Brent Sayers (Siddiq)
Distributor(s)	ADA (former) Secretly Distribution (current)
Genre	Hip hop, underground hip hop, alternative hip hop
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Official website	www.rhymesayers.com

History

Rhymesayers Entertainment was co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley (Slug), Anthony Davis (Ant), Musab Saad (Sab the Artist) and Brent Sayers (Siddiq).^[4] Former members of the Headshots crew.^[5] Beginning in 2008, Rhymesayers Entertainment sponsors the annual Soundset Music Festival, a popular attraction that takes place over Memorial Day weekend in Minneapolis.^[6] The music festival was postponed in 2020.^[7]

Rhymesayers released Prof and Dem Atlas from their label in 2020.

In 2020, Rhymesayers was among the many labels distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance that left the company after ADA moved all of its business to the Indiana-based Direct Shot Distributing. Controversy erupted when Direct Shot received numerous complaints from retailers over delayed or missing shipments.^[8] As a result, Secretly Distribution became the current distributor for Rhymesayers Entertainment.^[9]

The label also opened a record store in 1999 called Fifth Element, which closed on April 1, 2020.^[10]

Rhymesayers Entertainment is headquartered in the same building as its former music store, Fifth Element, in Uptown, Minneapolis, 2013.

Roster

Artists in promotion by 2016^[11]

• Aesop Rock
• Atmosphere (Slug and Ant)
• Brother Ali
• Dilated Peoples (DJ Babu, Evidence and Rakaa)
• Evidence
• Eyedea & Abilities
• Face Candy (Eyedea, Kristoff Krane, J.T. Bates and Casey O'Brien)
• Felt (Murs and Slug)
• Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock, DJ Big Wiz and Rob Sonic)
• I Self Devine
• Malibu Ken (Tobacco and Aesop Rock)
• Micranots (I Self Devine and DJ Kool Akiem)
• MInk (Musab and Ink Well)
• Nikki Jean
• Sa-Roc
• Semi.Official (I Self Devine and DJ Abilities)
• Soul Position (Blueprint and RJD2)
• Step Brothers (The Alchemist and Evidence)
• The Uncluded (Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson)

Archived artists

• Abstract Rude
• Blueprint
• Budo
• DJ Abilities
• Freeway
• Grayskul (JFK aka Ninjaface and Onry Ozzborn)
• Jake One
• MF DOOM
• Mr. Dibbs
• P.O.S
• Psalm One
• Sab the Artist
• Toki Wright

Artists formerly signed to the label include

• Boom Bap Project
• The Dynospectrum
• Mac Lethal
• Prof
• Grieves
• Dem Atlas

See also

• List of record labels
• Twin Cities hip hop
• Underground hip hop

References

1. Kangas, Chaz (December 2, 2015). "Rhymesayers at 20: How the best roster in hip-hop was built". City Pages. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
2. Rhys, Dan (December 4, 2015). "How Rhymesayers Entertainment Survived 20 Years As An Indie Label". Billboard. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
3. Burbeck, Rory (February 4, 2015). "Rhymesayers Label Founders to Discuss 20 Years of Success at SXSW Music 2015". SXSW. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
4. Setaro, Shawn (November 30, 2015). "Rhymesayers At 20: An Oral History". Forbes. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
5. "A Moment In Rhymesayers: Episode 4 - Headshots Tape 4 History". Rhymesayers Entertainment. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
6. Fischer, Reed (May 23, 2012). "How Rhymesayers set up the Soundset Festival". City Pages. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
7. Kangas, Chaz (2020-01-24). "Soundset 2020: CANCELLED, Go Radio looks back on Soundset memories". Go 95.3. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
8. Grech, Aaron (7 January 2020). "Indie Labels 4AD, Matador, Domino and More Exit Warner's Alternative Distribution Alliance Due to Delayed or Missing Vinyl Shipments". mxdwn.com. mxdwn.com. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
9. "Secretly Distribution - Partners". secretlydistribution.com. Secretly Group. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
10. Wiita, Tommy (2020-03-27). "Fifth Element, Rhymesayers record store, closes permanently". KSTP. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
11. "Artists". Rhymesayers Entertainment. Retrieved January 6, 2016.

Further reading

• Young, Killian (March 12, 2015). "Once Upon a Time in Minneapolis: 20 Years of Rhymesayers". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
• Riemenschneider, Chris (December 3, 2015). "20 defining moments in Rhymesayers' 20-year history". Star Tribune. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
• Tardio, Andres (December 4, 2015). "Rhymesayers: An Oral History Of The Indie Rap Empire". MTV. Archived from the original on December 5, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
• Boffard, Rob (February 4, 2014). "Rhymesayers – the finest independent hip-hop label in the world?". The Guardian. Retrieved November 5, 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Rhymesayers Entertainment discography at Discogs