He may not be a household name like Diddy, but Russell "Block" Spencer is definitely a hip hop mainstay. As president of Bad Boy South and CEO of Block Entertainment, Block is also credited with discovering and nurturing the careers of Yung Joc, Ciara, and Gorilla Zoe, to name a few.
Entering into the game around 1994 with Tupac's Outlawz crew, Block gained much of his business savvy by watching Tupac dabble in everything from film and music to headline-worthy, public star-posturing.
By 1995, Block was learning the business hands-on, overseeing projects for the likes of 8Ball & MJG.
And with more than ten years' experience under his belt, Block is now about to jump headfirst into the world of reality TV. He's currently working on a reality show called "Welcome to My Block" with Warner Music Group's CEO Lyor Cohen.
"I'm going to take the camera out the studio and go to different hoods and see artists rap. I'm going to go to their club, and interview people they grew up with," Block says, sitting on a wooden bench outside a bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a hot afternoon.
Besides making his own power moves, Block has a couple of, err, power commandments for other wannabe industry honchos as well.
BLOCK'S 7 BOSS COMMANDMENTS:
COMMANDMENT ONE: Mold and Shape the Game: The way the game is now you got to really mold and shape something and
really turn nothing into something. Anyone can form a super group.
Anybody can go put Jay-Z, Jeezy, and The Game- anybody can put that
group together. They're already stars, they've already done it, that's
easy. But go get people who're nobody and sell millions of records . .
. Go do that. Because then you'll be a pioneer.
COMMANDMENT TWO: Shoot High: A hit comes from heaven. A movement comes from up above. Some people get
creative but 85 percent come with gimmicks. When you're creating
something from a gimmicky point of view, nine times out of ten those
[artists that come out of that] are one hit wonders. The success
doesn't last long.
COMMANDMENT THREE:
Buy the Artist: Consumers have to buy into the artist- not the song. I don't make records for
people to buy into the records, I make records for people to buy into
the artist. That's why you have to have at least two good solid
records, mixtapes supporting those records, and a team. How far does
ringtones help you? You got to have a solid album, because you want to
live to see the third or fourth album. You want ringtones to be a
stepping stone for movies, your own record label, and clothing lines.
COMMANDMENT FOUR:
Posse Up: I feel the future of marketing is all about the movement of an artist,
meaning, right now a lot of people are not selling unless they're with
crews. And crews equal movements.
COMMANDMENT FIVE:
Talk the Talk: In marketing the biggest promotion is word of mouth.
COMMANDMENT SIX:
Sell the Image: You got to have the full packaging when you're talking about marketing. I
can't have Guerilla Zoe coming out in bright ass colors and talking all
this happy shit if he's a Guerilla. Ain't nobody gone believe Will
Smith if he was in Boyz N Da Hood.
COMMANDMENT SEVEN:
Step Your Game Up: The new way of marketing, is going back into the old ways of marketing,
where you go back and make sure people buy into your artist and not the
single. The old skool way of doing shit, when Rush Management were out
here making and shaping artists and not just making one record and
putting that shit out and selling some fucking ringtones. You got to do
more than one record, you got to do more than two records- because
you're going to have a guy like me laughing, and I'm going to put an
end to your shit.
