Shawn Gee
PRESIDENT, LIVE NATION URBAN
Heather Lowery
VP TALENT AND TOURING, LIVE NATION URBAN
Brandon Pankey
VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS, LIVE
NATION URBAN
URBAN DEVELOPMENT Led by Gee, Live Nation
Urban helped produce Atlanta’s Super Bowl Music
Festival with Bruno Mars and Cardi B, whose Feb. 2
show brought in almost $6.5 million, breaking the
single-night gross record for State Farm Arena.
Lowery’s team oversaw nearly a dozen shows for
the all-female-lineup series Femme It Forward,
while Pankey’s partnered with Audiomack for the
concert series Hometown Heroes: 19 U.S. shows
that highlighted local artists. The trio say they drew
28,000 guests to Roots Picnic in Philadelphia in
June, doubling last year’s attendance.
BROUGHT BROCCOLI BACK “We’re proud of the
growth we have had,” says Gee, adding that in 2019,
Live Nation Urban brought back Washington, D.C.’s
Broccoli City festival and produced three days of
the BET Experience at Los Angeles’ Staples Center
with a lineup that included Migos, Cardi B and
Mary J. Blige. Adds Gee: “We’re an entrepreneurial
shop located in a major corporation.”
Jonny Shuman
DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL TOURING, AEG PRESENTS
ALL-STAR ROSTER Since moving from AEG’s Denver
outpost to its Los Angeles base a year ago, Shuman
has worked on high-profile hip-hop treks for YG,
A$AP Rocky, $uicideboy$, T-Pain and Juice WRLD,
who, he says, grossed a collective $18.3 million in
- On the heels of those successes, Shuman and
his team are launching new tours with Kevin Gates,
Summer Walker, Ski Mask the Slump God and
DaBaby throughout the fall.
NO SUBSTITUTIONS “Technology has made it easier
to discover and consume music, but it will never
replace the feeling you get at a live show, seeing a
band in the flesh,” says Shuman.
PUBLISHING
Ian Holder
VP CREATIVE, SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING
Jennifer Drake
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF A&R, SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING
INITIAL WINS Holder’s client Ronny J produced four
late-2018 hits: Kanye West and Lil Pump’s “I Love
It,” which hit No. 6 on the Hot 100; Eminem’s “The
Ringer” (No. 8) and “Not Alike” (No. 24); and Ma-
chine Gun Kelly’s “Rap Devil” (No. 13). Meanwhile,
Drake’s 2018 signing of Cardi B bore fruit with her
best rap album Grammy win and four additional
nods. And client Khalid earned his first No. 1 on the
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart with “Talk.”
THE SOUND AND THE FURY “How many times have
we seen a rap feud between two established artists
with the producer being part of the bedrock for
both songs?” asks Brooklyn-born Holder, 38, of
Ronny J, who produced both Eminem’s MGK dis
track “Not Alike” and Kelly’s response, “Rap Devil,”
with no apparent repercussions. Drake, 37, who
became a mother in August, signed Ella Mai and
“Boo’d Up” producer Mustard to Sony, winning a
fierce bidding war after an 11th-hour visit to the stu-
dio where the duo was recording. “Never underesti-
mate the power of relationships,” she says.
Raj Jadeja
VP CREATIVE/A&R, BMG
HE’S GOT JUICE Jadeja, 37, and his team emerged
victorious in a heated music-publisher battle to sign
Juice WRLD, landing worldwide publishing rights in
November 2018, a month after the Chicago rapper’s
“Lucid Dreams” hit No. 2 on the Hot 100. In March,
his album Death Race for Love debuted at No. 1 on
the Billboard 200. Now, 1.6 billion “Lucid Dreams”
streams later, Jadeja’s duties were expanded to
include global markets.
WHATEVER IT TAKES When Juice WRLD toured the
East Coast, Jadeja, a self-described “Indian nerd from
Connecticut,” says he transformed into the rapper’s
“personal concierge” — commandeering a strang-
er’s vehicle in Rhode Island to shield Juice WRLD
from a swarm of fans. “It was in those moments that
I became more than just a suit,” says Jadeja.
Walter Jones
CO-HEAD OF A&R, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
CREAM OF THE CULTURE The Clark Atlanta University
alumnus, 38, who was appointed to his role in early
2019, added Quality Control standouts Lil Baby and
City Girls to his roster. “They mean so much to the
culture,” says Jones, who also oversees A&R for
H.E.R., Daniel “Bekon” Tannenbaum and Lil Yachty.
HE GOT A GRAMMY The Santa Monica, Calif.-based
executive took home his first Grammy in February
for executive-producing H.E.R.’s eponymous debut,
which was named best R&B album. The singer
invited him onstage to accept the award: “She put
in the work,” says Jones. “I was just happy to be
there with her.”
Ryan Press
PRESIDENT OF A&R, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
LANDED LIZZO Three months after Press was
promoted to his role in April, he signed rising
star Lizzo, who earned her first Hot 100 No. 1 in
September with the fiery “Truth Hurts.” Prior to his
promotion, the 10-year Warner Chappell veteran
paired client Swae Lee with Post Malone for their
smash Hot 100-topping collaboration, “Sunflower
(Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” — Lee’s first
No. 1 on the chart outside of Rae Sremmurd.
100% THAT BAD-ASS The Philadelphia University alum,
who now resides in Los Angeles, says of Lizzo:
“She’s the total package — singer, songwriter, rapper,
flautist. There are so many layers, and her success
means a lot because of what she represents for both
women and the business. Having her in the Warner
Chappell family speaks volumes about who we want
to represent and what we stand for as a company.”
Sam Taylor
EXECUTIVE VP CREATIVE, KOBALT MUSIC
Al “Butter” McLean
SENIOR VP CREATIVE, KOBALT MUSIC
ALL THE AWARDS Less than two weeks after Kobalt
announced the McLean-led signing of Child-
ish Gambino and the artist’s creative collective
“This year, it has to be Lil
Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road.’
Everyone thought it was
a gimmick when it was
released, and he broke records. It was great
to see a rap record do the numbers it did.”
—RONNIE TRIANA, SIRIUSXM
“OutKast’s Speaker-
boxxx/The Love Below.
The way they orches-
trated that double-disc,
and the things that
André 3000 brought to the game at that
time was something that had never been
done by a rap artist. It was one of those
game-changing moments in the culture.”
—PIERRE “P” THOMAS, QUALITY CONTROL MUSIC
“[Kanye West’s debut] The Col-
lege Dropout is one of the most
important albums of not only hip-
hop, but in music history. When
it came out in 2004, hip-hop
was still in its excessive phase, very much
bravado-driven. With College Dropout,
Kanye successfully took the ‘underground
backpack’ aesthetic and merged that with
the confidence of pop culture.”
—SHAWN GEE, LIVE NATION URBAN
“Lil’ Kim’s [1996 debut] Hard
Core. That was the first time
a woman publicly asserted
her sexuality in a way that had
no excuses. She was the first
to walk into a man’s space and hold her
proverbial nuts, and everybody was like,
‘Yes!’ She paved the way for so many more
[women rappers].”
—MARSHA ST. HUBERT, ATLANTIC RECORDS
“Jodeci’s Diary of a Mad Band. I remember
growing up and thinking, ‘Whoa, this really
took R&B to another level.’ They were a boy
band, but the way they approached the
album [was different], from the production
and even how they made themselves vulner-
able. On the song ‘Cry for You,’ it’s this cool-
ass hip-hop-looking guy with tattoos and a
ripped-up shirt actually pleading for his girl.
Selling points, man!”
—TUO CLARK, DEF JAM RECORDINGS
GAME-
CHANGERS
GEE,^ LOWERY,PANKEY:^ COURTESY^OFLIVE^NATIONURBAN.^ S
HUMAN:^ BRENNEN^MCMURRAY.^ H
OLDER,DRAKE:COURTESY^OFSONY/ATV^MUSICPUBLISHING.JADEJA:BMG.^ J
ONES:^ RODGOODMAN.^ P
RESS:^ JONATHAN^WEINER.TAYLOR:CHRIS^PARSONS.MCLEAN:CATRINAMAXWELL/WIREIMAGE.LILNASX:RICHARDSHOTWELL/INVISION/AP^IMAGES.^ O
UTKAST(^2):^PETER^BROOKER/SHUTTERSTOCK.^ W
EST:SCOTTGRIES/GETTYIMAGES.^ L
ILKIM:^ RONGALELLA/GETTYIMAGES.^ J
ODECI:^ GREGG^DEGUIRE/WIREIMAGE.SHUMAN
HOLDER
DRAKE
JADEJA
JONES
PRESS
TAYLOR
MCLEAN
GEE
LOWERY
PANKEY
64 BILLBOARD • OCTOBER 19, 2019
&
POWER PLAYERS 2019