Imagine Issa Rae taking the stage and accepting an honor for her television show, production company, beauty campaign or the 50-leven other things she does and uttering, “To all you artists out there, who don’t want to be on a record label where executive producers are all up in the videos being non-awkward, then come to Raedio!”
According to Billboard, Rae has officially started a record label named Raedio, as part of a joint venture with Atlantic Records. The new label’s flagship artist is TeaMarrr. Rae announced the news via her social media accounts on Friday. Development Executive Benoni Tagoe, who also serves as music supervisor on A Black Lady Sketch Show, will lead the label.
As for TeaMarr, the Haitian-American singer-rapper first intrigued Rae with her 2018 single “One Job,” which boasted 1.2 million streams. Along with the record label announcement, the newly signed artist dropped her first single for the label, “Kinda Love.” Rae makes an appearance in the new music video, too!
Raedio describes itself as an “audio everywhere company” that was inspired by her desire to center the work of “female, independent or Los Angeles-based artists,” the latter of which was quite apparent in Insecure.
“Music has always been an essential part of every project I do and working with emerging talent is a personal passion,” Rae noted in a statement. “Raedio allows me to continue that work within the music industry and audio entertainment space. The Atlantic Records team are innovators in terms of shifting and shaping culture. I’m excited to join forces with them to discover new artists.”
“Issa Rae is a next-level, future-thinking creative force who’s been breaking down cultural barriers and conquering one field after another,” Atlantic chairman and COO Julie Greenwald said. “She’s made music a central character in her artistic evolution, and now she’s brought all that amazing passion, inspiration, and taste to the formation of Raedio. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Issa and her team on this exciting new venture, and TeaMarrr is the perfect artist to launch with.”