Before Ne-Yo, there was Neo-Soul. During the mid 1990s R&B artists like Erykah Badu, D'Angelo and Musiq Soulchild “began” a renaissance of sorts in black music, a movement that would come to be known for its throwback earthy tones and sultry, relaxed themes about love and the pain that comes along with it. On the Hip Hop side, household names like Mos Def, Common and The Roots began to fit that bill as well.

In this installment of Industry 101, HipHopDX learns from the woman who many say may have started it all.

Wendy Goldstein is the epitome of “been there, done that.” As arguably the most powerful and accomplished woman in the male-dominated music executive circle, Wendy Goldstein has not only signed, but developed and made stars out of Common, The Roots and Mos Def, among with many others, while holding top positions at Capitol Records, Geffen Records and EastWest Records.

Now, on the verge of making history again as owner of Omerta Management, a firm with an explosive talent roster of urban artists and producers, the former New York City deejay shares what she knows about the recording industry both as an A&R and as a manager. Meet one of the most powerful women in Hip Hop.

HipHopDX: Obviously you’ve been at some of the biggest names (record companies) in the industry. How much difference is there between different companies’ approach to making and selling music?
Wendy Goldstein: A lot. You know, depending on the era and depending on what was hot, you a lot of the companies I worked at I really stayed a good chunk of time. Like Capitol, [five and-a-half] years, Universal, which was MCA/Geffen [eight and-a-half years] years, EastWest [three years] and before that RCA [for seven], so each company was run completely different. I think that with any great executive, the best thing you could do is really embrace the way that the company is running and figure out a way to work within that system. Especially as an A&R, you have to find acts that can deliver. Like Geffen they like to tour 200-250 days out of the year. Geffen knew how to break bands that knew had to do that, like White Zombie and Madonna.

DX: Most people would acknowledge challenges faced by women in corporate America. I was wondering if you had any insight on specific challenges faced by women in the recording industry…
WG: It’s definitely a boys club on a certain level. The women who are lucky enough to break through have to have very thick skin, and not really take things personally and keep things moving. I don’t know if that was my New York thing or if it was just me, but I’m so driven to be successful that it just didn’t’ stop me. They are definitely tricky waters to navigate.

DX: We always hear about the successes when it comes to artists getting signed and being successful, and you’ve obviously had those…if you could turn back the “hands of time” is there anyone that you would un-sign?
WG: Uh,…not really, I think you sign everything for a reason and  with the best intentions possible. And some of it is more successful than others. Some of the acts that I’m most proud of in my career were not the biggest sellers…

DX: Really?  Who comes to mind?
WG: Like The Roots. The biggest album they had barely sold a million, whereas I signed Chingy and he sold three million. There is a big difference in terms of profit margin between selling one million records and three million records. I will probably be known most for signing The Roots, Common and Mos Def, who weren’t my biggest sellers ultimately.

DX: Given Hip Hop and R&B's popularity in the mainstream and suburban America, what does “urban music” mean to you?
WG: You know its funny, because people always feel like urban music always had a very specific meaning. To me urban music really was just something that happened in cities and urban area. Urban radio as a format kind of dictated peoples perception of urban music. The Roots had a huge college following, a huge urban following, suburban following, I think that they were your quintessential urban act. What you would think of would be Keyshia Cole, Mary J Blige, Jay-Z, things like that. I think that urban is just something that happened in the city.

DX: Can you tell me about The Roots’ decision to make the move to Def Jam?
WG: I think that the reason why they made the move to Def Jam at the time they did was… At that time I had A&R’ed them at that point for three straight albums and I had left to go work at Capitol and kinda left them at MCA at the time, and they had put out one record at Geffen and they were a little disappointed. Jay-Z had always been a huge fan of theirs. Even from back in the day when I signed them, he used to call my office all the time, like “Wendy I need a table, I need eight tickets, I need this I need that.”  He was the biggest Roots fan from early on. And I think that was a dream of his to sign them, so when he was over Def Jam he was the one who made the bid to get them over there. Continued on page 2 »