TRUE BELIEVER
“Derrick was very
passionate about me and
didn’t look at me like a
prize; he looked at me
like somebody with a lot
of potential. He believed
in me when I didn’t really
believe in myself.”
—GOLDLINK
My Billboard Moment
Aroh photographed by
Jai Lennard on Sept. 10 at
RCA Records in New York.
THE LEGACY
“This Is America” won four Grammys, including
song and record of the year, and has garnered
639 million on-demand streams in the United
States, according to Nielsen Music.
Brockhampton’s 2018 LP, iridescence, debuted
at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has amassed
126 million U.S. streams.
GoldLink received consecutive Grammy nods
for best rap/sung performance in 2017 and 2018.
Derrick Aroh
VP A&R, RCA RECORDS
Since rising to vp A&R in 2015, Aroh says
he has been on a mission to make “weird”
hip-hop mainstream. In 2018 the Brooklyn native
— alongside Tunji Balogun (RCA’s executive vp
A&R and founder of label Keep Cool) and Adonis
Sutherlin (senior vp A&R) — secured the signings
of two of the genre’s buzziest artists: Brockhamp-
ton and Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover).
The latter scored his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
last year with “This Is America.” Those wins land-
ed Aroh on Billboard’s 40 Under 40 list in 2018;
Aroh reflects on what that meant to him.
At the end of the day, the people who read
Billboard are my peers, who have some part in
my growth, and kids who are trying to get in
the industry. I’m Nigerian and didn’t have family
members who were into music. For me to finally
get my shot as an A&R [rep], I’m showing people
that if I can do it, so can they. These lists are
self-gratifying, but they also show it’s possible
for others like me.
It took a year to sign Childish. Every label
wanted him. Governors Ball 2017 was really
a war day; so many label executives were
onstage, watching. I’ve known Fam [Udeorji,
Gambino’s longtime manager] since I was an
assistant, so when Gambino left Glassnote
Records, I asked him: “Can we jump in yet?” We
even flew to London when he was filming Solo:
A Star Wars Story. Our success with Khalid and
GoldLink crystallized it.
I remember getting ready for Saturday Night
Live, and his team played us the “This Is Amer-
ica” video — I had chills! Twenty minutes after
Gambino’s SNL performance [of “This Is Amer-
ica”], Twitter went apeshit. The video shifted
culture, and that’s what you want as an A&R.
—AS TOLD TO BIANCA GRACIE
232 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
GROOMING^BYTARA^LAURENAT^EPIPHANYAGENCY