LABEL
LOOK
Masked Records
Born and raised in Long
Beach, N.Y., Gengo started
Masked Gorilla in high
school, differentiating
the site from other rap
blogs by covering artists
way under the radar. After
graduating from Purchase
College, he moved to Los
Angeles where, in 2014, he
launched Unmasked, book-
ing artists like Seshollowa-
terboyz, Odd Future and
the late Lil Peep. Gengo
supported the growing
SoundCloud rap scene
early on. “I was around the
same age as all these kids,”
he says. “Instead of just
reporting on a scene, I felt
like I was contributing.”
BACKSTORY
2KBABY released the
official audio for “Old
Streets” independently
through UnitedMasters on
his YouTube page in June.
A month later, World-
StarHipHop shared the
video on its YouTube page
— and the clip immedi-
ately gained over 1 million
views. Now, the track
has 6.3 million streams,
according to Nielsen
Music, and there’s even an
#oldstreetschallenge
on social media.
The rapper’s
major-label
debut EP
will arrive
this fall.
KEY STATS
Gengo (who now lives in
Atlanta) first discovered
19-year-old rapper 2KBABY
in May on Instagram — he
saw a video of the Louis-
ville, Ky., native freestyl-
ing lyrics to his eventual
breakthrough “Old Streets”
a cappella. Gengo soon
offered him a recording
contract — no other
labels had approached the
artist at the time — and in
August, 2KBABY signed to
Masked and Warner. “We
looked at 2KBABY as more
than just a song or viral
moment. It was clear that
Roger had identified an
artist,” says Sosnow. “That’s
what we want.”
THE ARTISTS
With an office space in Los
Angeles, Gengo is focused
on growing his staff and
expanding his roster before
2020, signing mostly hip-
hop artists. Gengo himself
admits, “It’s hard in some
cases to define what is
what genre; that’s what
SoundCloud rap was —
nobody knew what to call
it.” But regardless of whom
he adds, Gengo assures
that everyone on his roster
will get all he has to
offer. “We’re pursuing
the same goal and
fighting for the
same thing,” he
says. “We are in
it together.”
WHAT’S NEXT
By the time Roger Gengo was 17, he already had founded the music blog
Masked Gorilla — but he had his sights set on more. In June 2009, he
tweeted: “I want to start up a record label, it’s been on my mind my whole
life.” In the decade since, Gengo, now 28, has expanded Masked Gorilla to
a concert series called Unmasked — a showcase of underground talent —
and now, finally, a record label. In September, Masked Gorilla announced
its joint venture with Warner Records to launch Masked Records, signing
rapper 2KBABY as its first artist. “Our partnership is a logical next step, as Warner Records wants to
be positioned with not only people who can identify talent, but people who can also relate to and
help cultivate” new artists, says Jeff Sosnow, executive vp A&R for Warner and Reprise Records. As
Gengo puts it, “It was made clear from the start they believed in my vision.” —ERIC DIEP
SHO MADJOZI
2KBABY
Gengo
BIG IN...
South Africa
This August, Missy Elliott retweet-
ed a video of a South African artist
rapping about wrestler John Cena with
the comment “SUPA” and a fire emoji. By
doing so, she introduced her 6.7 million
followers to Sho Madjozi, a 27-year-old
from the Limpopo province who has
won two South African Music Awards
and the BET Awards’ Viewers’ Choice
for best international act. Now, with a
catchy track about a cultural figure in
the United States, she’s cementing her
crossover success.
Known for rapping in a combination
of her first language, Xitsonga, as well as
English and Swahili — and for pairing the
traditional xibelani skirt with Air Force
Ones — Madjozi has unabashedly em-
braced her Tsonga heritage. She started
rapping on Instagram three years ago
and in 2018 independently released her
debut, Limpopo Champions League, a
mix of pop production and gqom music
(a subgenre of house popular in South
African townships).
But since she performed “John Cena,”
which she mostly raps in Swahili, on the
YouTube COLORS page that spotlights
new artists from around the world, she
has seen the biggest reaction yet. “Peo-
ple in Tanzania and Kenya started liking
it,” says the rapper, born Maya Wegerif.
“Then people in Europe and the U.S.,
too.” In a month, it scored over 3 million
YouTube views; in September, Madjozi
independently released the song with
distribution from Africori. And Cena
himself approves: He walked out to the
song at a match and danced to it on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show in September.
“A lot of artists second-guess them-
selves,” says Madjozi’s manager, Bran-
don Hixon, who has known her since
she studied creative writing at Mount
Holyoke College in Massachusetts. (She
attended high school in Tanzania.) “But
when she decides something, she just
does it.” Madjozi says she plays new
music for her dancers first: “If it’s fun
for us, we [release] it. That’s the [only]
assurance I need.”
—NADIA NEOPHYTOU
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.38 BILLBOARD • OCTOBER 12, 2019