Cold Chillin' Records

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Cold Chillin' Records was a record label that released some important music in the golden age of hip hop, from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. A producer-and-crew label founded by manager Tyrone Williams and run by Len Fichtelberg, Most of the label's releases were by members of the Juice Crew, a loosely knit group of artists centered around producer Marley Marl.

Initially, Cold Chillin’ was a subsidiary of Prism Records, then, in 1988, it signed a 5-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records and, in the mid-1990s, it was distributed by Epic Street/SME Records. It also had a sub-label named Livin’ Large, which released Roxanne Shanté's second album and several titles by other artists, and was distributed by former Warner Bros. subsidiary Tommy Boy Records as part of its deal with Warner. Since the deal with Epic Street, it only existed as a reissue label. Only Big Daddy Kane’s works remain with Warner Bros. and Kool G. Rap's 4,5,6 remains with Epic. The remainder of the label’s catalog is controlled by Traffic Entertainment Group. Along with Ruthless Records, Death Row Records, and Rap-A-Lot, Cold Chillin' Records is widely respected for serious contributions to hip-hop music during its formative years. In 2006, Traffic started releasing new versions of the classic albums in Cold Chillin's’ catalog with their original artwork intact.

Discography

Albums

1987

• M.C. Shan—Down by Law

1988

• Big Daddy Kane—Long Live the Kane
• MC Shan—Born to be Wild
• Biz Markie—Goin' Off
• Marley Marl—In Control Volume 1

1989

• Big Daddy Kane—It's a Big Daddy Thing
• Kool G Rap & DJ Polo—Road to the Riches
• Roxanne Shanté—Bad Sister
• Biz Markie—The Biz Never Sleeps

1990

• Grand Daddy I.U.—Smooth Assassin
• Master Ace—Take a Look Around
• 2 Deep—Honey, That's Show Biz
• Kool G Rap & DJ Polo—Wanted: Dead or Alive
• Big Daddy Kane—Taste of Chocolate
• M.C. Shan—Play it Again, Shan

1991

• Big Daddy Kane—Prince of Darkness
• Kid Capri—The Tape
• Diamond Shell—The Grand Imperial Diamond Shell
• Biz Markie—I Need a Haircut
• Marley Marl—In Control, Volume 2: For Your Steering Pleasure
• The Genius—Words from the Genius

1992

• Kool G Rap & DJ Polo—Live and Let Die
• Roxanne Shanté—The Bitch is Back (released on Livin’ Large)
• Nubian M.O.B. - Nubian M.O.B.

1993

• Big Daddy Kane—Looks Like a Job For…
• Biz Markie—All Samples Cleared!
• TBTBT—Too Bad to Be True
• YZ—The Ghetto’s Been Good to Me (released on Livin’ Large)
• T.C.F. Crew—Come & Play with Me

1994

• Grand Daddy I.U.—Lead Pipe
• King Sun—Strictly Ghetto (released on Livin’ Large)

1995

• Kool G Rap—4,5,6

Non-album singles

• Juice Crew All-Stars—"Juice Crew All-Stars"
• Big Scoob—"Suckaz Can't Hang"
• Madame Star—"Looking for a Dame"
• Big Scoob—"Champagne on the Block"

See also

• Roxanne Wars
• The Bridge Wars

References