Major record companies may have the financial clout to attract music’s
biggest stars, however, Peter Adarkwah’s independent BBE label has been
able
to tap the talents of hip hop’s most influential producers for its Beat
Generation album series.
Through his DJing and club promotion work, over time Peter has been
able to meet and build up personal relationships with many of the hip
hop producers
of whose work he has had a great appreciation. “I’ve made contact with
a number of my idols,” he says, “and the lure of owning some original
material
[of theirs] proved too much to resist.” In creating The Beat Generation
Series, Peter has given some of the producers he admires complete
artistic
freedom to create albums that draw on all their influences. “I want the
series to reflect as much as possible the producers’ musical
inspirations,”
he states. Since the release of Jay Dee’s LP, The Beat Generation
Series has flourished with projects from Pete Rock, Will I Am (of Black
Eyed Peas)
and Marley Marl hitting the stores.
As BBE is an independent record label, keeping it afloat has not been
without its challenges. “Cash-flow problems are unavoidable,” Peter
admits. “Licensing material from [major labels] is hard work for an
independent,
if not impossible”. So, his advise to would-be indie label execs is
simple: “Don’t do it! Find something else to do. It’s a good way to
lose money.”
That withstanding, Peter has managed to develop BBE into a successful
enterprise. To date, the label has released over forty compilation
albums
covering funk, soul, disco, hip-hop, latin and house music genres. In
addition, Pete Rock’s ‘Petestrumentals’ LP from The Beat Generation
Series
has become BBE’s best selling original artist release.
Like most of BBE’s other releases, Adarkwah has found that the response
to the Series has so far been greater in the States than here in the
UK.
Attention has been received from not only record buyers but also from
artists. “A lot of American producers with a strong fan base have been
in
touch, so I’m kind of inundated with material,” Peter reveals.
Questlove (from The Roots), DJ Spinna and 88 Keys have all already been
earmarked to
contribute albums, and Peter doesn’t rule out the possibility of
British producers featuring on The Beat Generation Series. “Simon from
the Creators
played me some ill beats and so has Force from Nash and The Ali G Show.
Whether anything materialises, only time will tell. So far, the
Americans
are showing way more love.”
The next Beat Generation project to be released is from DJ Jazzy Jeff
(of Fresh Prince and Jill Scott fame). “His album should be completed
in
January 2002,” Peter states. “So far, it sounds like a classic. Expect
a few Philly collaborations. It will probably be out in May.” Albums
from
King Britt and DJ Spinna are also due to be delivered in February. The
Beat Generation is clearly set to continue developing in 2002, a year
for which
Peter has clear goals for his label as a whole: “getting people to
realise that there is more to BBE than the Beat Generation and also not
to turn [the
Series] into a Police-Academy-15-type-thing! I’ll stop at about ten and
develop some other concept.
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In February 2001, BBE released ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’ by Jay Dee, an LP of
jazz-tinged beats and rugged rhymes from a producer who has worked with
respected acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, The Pharcyde
and Slum Village. The acclaimed album was the first Beat Generation
project to
be released. The series is dedicated to the craft of hip hop’s premier
beat-makers and, in Peter’s opinion, it should appeal to “music lovers,
beat
diggers, anoraks and people who are not hardcore hip hop heads”.
