We had a moment to chat with South Coast Music Group CEO, Arnold Taylor. Taylor was responsible for the meteoric rise of a hometown favorite artist and household name, DaBaby. Before DaBaby, Charlotte struggled to find a breakout artist, who could thrive in today’s music industry and transcend the local music scene. Before starting his own label, Mr. Taylor held esteemed positions at Def Jam and Epic records. One of the things on his wish list was to break a North Carolina artist. He most definitely had the knowledge, experience, and skill set to take the right player to the next level, as well as build a team thatās now heralded as one of the most commanding in the industry. Find out more about his rise to record label owner and get some behind the scenes tidbits in the full interview below
Q1. Where are you from? And how was life growing up?
It was life in the hood. I was an eager kid who asked his mother a lot of questions about life in general and I was always eager to learn. Growing up in Charlotte and watching my Mom go through the things she did, but remain resilient as a strong black woman made me who I am today. Because of this, Iāve always found a way to overcome adversity and turn a negative into a positive.
Q2. What got you interested in the music business?
In school, I was into sports and music and I remember buying my first LL Cool J album and hearing the song āRock The Bellsā and that was the first time I fell in love with music. Forget about the music business in general, that was the first album that made me love music, get into hip-hop and learn how it could change your life.
Q3. What kept you motivated starting out?
I started a record pool that is a DJ service. I would send people feedback on how their music was doing. Iāve always been an entrepreneur and so I liked the fact the labels in NYC would call and want my feedback from all of my DJās. I had around 100 DJās who would spin records and provide feedback and it grew from there. I thought I was making great money at the time but more importantly I was intrigued at how I had started something from scratch and I was providing a service with all of the latest music. From there, it motivated me, because the fact people wanted my influence and DJās to do their parties and break their music in this area was great because Charlotte wasnāt on the map at the time either. We had R&B with artists like Jodeci but we didnāt have hip-hop, so the record pool influenced me in a major way to want to work with a label and this is how I began to become more intrigued about the label side of things.
Q4. When was SCMG founded and what motivated you to do so?
I started it about 6 years ago. I was tired of working for labels and I wanted to put on for my city. I feel like the artists of Charlotte and the Carolinas in general werenāt represented the right way. We only had Petey Pablo and that was 20 years ago, (shout out Petey!) and we had J.Cole, so I sat back and thought, Iāve been breaking artists around the whole country but not artists from my home town and for me I didnāt feel good about it and wanted to do more. I felt I was the guy to do it. I had been in NY and LA, working for Def Jam and all the labels so I wanted to put on for my city. I didnāt care how much labels were paying, it didnāt feel like I had completed what I was here to do which is how I founded SCMG.
Q5. In your experience, what is the key to developing a newly found artist
I pride myself on being a marketing and promotion guy because marketing is all about coming up with a creative way to sell a concept. The reason Iāve been so successful at this is because I donāt treat each artist the same and Iāve never broken an artist the same way. You have to find out what works for each artist, where they need to improve at, and then provide them, with the tools to help and provide that exposure.
Whatever it is, stay true to your lane. And thatās what I want to make sure all artists do ā stay true to who they are and what they do.
Q6. What do you look for in discovering new talent?
I look for someone thatās different of course, but I also look at their work ethic because no one is going to out work me and if you can, Iām listening. Finding the best way to get the most out of an artist is very important and I look to do this each time.
Q7. People are familiar when it comes to places like Atlanta and Houston when it comes to Southern Rap, but can you can tell us a bit more about Charlotte?
People donāt really know the Carolinas. They try to compare us to Atlanta and different places without realizing the talent we have in this city. The Carolinas in itself is a melting pot and there is so many different sounds here. My artists are the perfect example of that. No one single artist sounds the same and thatās why theyāre all successful in their own way.
Q8. How did DaBaby come across your radar?
I started the label 6 years ago and I originally signed a pop artist. I saw Baby in the club and he had a street team with him, including signs etc. and at the time he went by Baby Jesus. At the time I was amazed that this young person was doing such old school promotion including flyers and mixtapes. It was impressive because at this point, I didnāt want the music, I wanted the mindset of him. What was he thinking and what could we do together?
I knew I needed someone who wasnāt scared to be themselves and rep their city and I approached him with that exact mindset.
Q9. Your team arguably had the best year in the rap game in 2019, how did you achieve this in such a short amount of time?
I signed Dababy 4 years ago. Weāve been through a lot and none of this is new but we have been able to grow and get to the point we are now. One thing is for sure ā people never see your struggle and only see your success.
So this has definitely been a journey ā but a great one as we continue working! There were times when people didnāt like his music, but we found a way to re-strategize and find new options.
Q10. What advice would you have for up and coming artists?
Be patient. Thereās a lot of good people in this world and in this industry but you will deal with your fair share of things not going your way. A lot of people get into this industry and want to do everything youāre doing without understanding the process. Be patient. Every one of my artistās understand they have to put in the work ā DaBaby, Toosii, BlaccZacc, Big Mali, Tia Corine. A lot of artists donāt understand the sleepless nights and hard work and thatās what it takes.
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Photos provided by Arnold Taylor Special thanks to Arnold Taylor / SCMG / Bianca Rugimbana / Ethan Linville
