300 Entertainment’s Kevin Liles Talks $400 Million Warner Deal, Gunna’s No. 1, Mary J. Blige at the Super Bowl and More
09.02.2022 - 20:47
/ variety.com
Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKevin Liles is a name that people in the music industry have been hearing for more than 30 years, for an impressive variety of reasons. He was a top executive at Def Jam and Warner Music, he managed Mariah Carey, D’Angelo and Trey Songz, and he was even a recording artist who had one of his songs covered by Milli Vanilli, of all people, on their multi-multi-platinum 1990 debut album.But he got his biggest look yet in January, when the company he co-founded, 300 Entertainment, was acquired by Warner Music for a reported $400 million.
That company, which releases music by such hip-hop and R&B stars as Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug and Gunna, is now part of Warner Music group, and so is Liles — pictured above with Atlantic co-chairman Julie Greenwald and Warner recorded music chief Max Lousada — who not only remains CEO of 300 but is also CEO of Elektra Music Group, a free-standing label within Warner. And as if the deal weren’t a big enough flex, just days after it was announced, one of 300’s artists, Gunna, beat out the Weeknd in a photo finish for the No.
1 spot on the Billboard albums chart — that’s a huge look for a company that until a few days earlier, was independent. Sweetening the deal even more, Mary J.
Blige, who signed with 300 last year, not only is releasing a new album on Friday, she’s appearing with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg at the Super Bowl Halftime show, which is the biggest stage and the biggest audience in the entire world for a musician.So how did Kevin Liles get here? Good old-fashioned hustle: Originally from Baltimore, he attended Morgan State University on an engineering scholarship from NASA, and at the same time was working as an artist in the
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