Top Dawg Entertainment has proven to be a breeding ground for some of the most bright minded artists in hip hop and R&B in modern times. With Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith pulling the strings in the background and Kendrick Lamar being the face of the label, together they've played a role in making hip hop become the biggest genre in the world. With such a successful year the label has had thusfar, both Kendrick and Top Dawg land on Billboard Magazine's cover of their inaugural Hip Hop Power Players issue. Through the piece, they discuss the label's come up as well as their future plans while divulging on tidbits of information that have been unknown until now.
One of the most interesting parts of this article is when Kendrick admits that good kid, m.a.a.d city was re-worked three or four times over the course of several years before becoming the masterpiece that it is.
"Yeah, we did good kid about three, four times before the world got to it...New songs, new everything. I wanted to tell that story, but I had to execute it. My whole thing is about execution. The songs can be great, the hooks can be great, but if it’s not executed well, then it’s not a great album."
Top Dawg also revealed that Kendrick also owns a percentage of the label and on top of that, the label will be venturing off into movies and TV in the near future, meaning Kendrick will be receiving executive producer credits once those ventures come into the fruition.
"People really don’t know that Kendrick owns a percentage of TDE... The movie, the TV shit that we’re working on, Kendrick’s going to be executive producer on whatever we do.” Tiffith said.
Kendrick also reveals the secret as to why TDE is one of the best labels out right now.
"I got to actually do a verse, scrap it, do it over and just perfect my whole shit. And that gave me the upper hand among other artists. All of us at TDE, that gave us an upper hand. Everybody [else] was just trying to get a hit record." Kendrick said.
It's an insightful interview that provides details behind the success behind one of the music industry's most successful indie labels. While DAMN. still continues to dominate the Billboard, it's a testament to the work ethic behind TDE.