Hip-hop was born in the streets as individuals discovered how to use music to express real-life struggles. Since its inception, hip-hop has been an outlet of self-expression for many and now R. Baron is paving the way for future artists. Founded by TK Kimbro and Jeremiah “Picaso” Aubert, R. Baron is looking to dominate the music scene despite only being in the game for a few short years.
Like the artists they manage, the founders had their struggles and shared the same background as many of their acts. When life is hard, you make due and hustling seemed to be the only way to make a living. Hoping to make a change, TK merged his business knowledge together with Picaso’s creativity to establish their artist management firm and creative agency. The idea was to turn the have-nots into the haves by pushing artists that endured the same struggles.
Inspired to make big moves and build an empire of their own, they were motivated by the great men that helped industrialize this country and made a fortune for themselves. These men included the likes of John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Leland Stanford – who were all given the nickname “Robber Barons” as a derogatory term for their ruthless business ethics. TK thought this was a good way to describe his neo-capitalist efforts and decided to go call the business R. Baron to pay homage to these infamous industrialists.
Before the new name, the duo signed an up-and-coming rapper named Raven Sorvino. After discovering her talent, they promoted her and landed her various business opportunities in the industry. Eventually she went from being a rapper to a fashionista and formed her own company, Out Here Girls. Using the exposure and connections they gained from the experience of working together on an artist, TK and Picaso moved forward and continued to strive and make big moves.
While looking for the hottest new acts on the west coast, they connected with 03 Greedo, Drakeo the Ruler and the Stinc Team, 1takejay and Shoreline Mafia. Fully prepared to handle artist management, R. Baron was able to score a record contract with Atlantic for Shoreline. While busy working to get Drakeo and 03Greedo out there, the two were incarcerated. Greedo is now serving his 20-year sentence and at the time of publication, Drakeo was acquitted of his charges and is awaiting release. Once out, he will have some work to do as he is expected to record new material and hit the show circuit once more.
With Shoreline’s success at hand, you could say that R. Baron has done well in the industry. However, this is not the end for the team as they are committed to continually finding the best new artists and pushing the envelope by representing the best in the biz.
