(AllHipHop News) The history of groundbreaking Hip-Hop label Profile Records will be chronicled in a new double CD/digital release titled Giant Record: Profile Records Rap Anthology.
Profile Records was originally founded as a 12-inch dance singles label in 1979, by Cory Robbins and Steve Plotnicki.
The pair borrowed $34,000 from their parents to start Profile, but the label had little success in the first two years of operation.
In 1981, with only $2,000 left, the label landed its first hit via a Hip-Hop record, with the release of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s classic single “Genius Rap.”
The record, which featured future Uptown Records executive Andrea Harrell, sold over 150,000 copies for Profile Records.
Over the years, Profile Records has released classics by numerous Hip-Hop artists, including the seminal releases by pioneers Run-DMC, who signed to the label for a $3,000 advance.
“Profile Records wasn’t the first successful rap label,” writes Hip-Hop journalist Dan Charnas in the liner notes. “But Profile’s openness to this new form of music made the company a pioneer in so many other vital ways: The first record label to produce true rap ‘stars’ who crossed over to the mainstream. The first to earn gold, platinum and multi-platinum rap albums. The first to get rap videos on MTV. The first to treat rap with the dignity accorded other genres of music.”
Artists like Dana Dane, Special Ed, Rob Base, DJ Quik, Nine, Poor Righteous Teachers, Onyx, Camp Lo, Disco Four are featured on Giant Record: Profile Records Rap Anthology.
The 31-track CD/digital anthology is due in stores on January 31, 2012.
