IN STORES 7.24.01

News | Bio | Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

WHAT IT IS RIGHT NOW: VIOLATOR THE ALBUM: V2.0

FOLLOW UP TO PLATINUM VIOLATOR THE ALBUM TO FEATURE NEW MUSIC FROM BUSTA RHYMES, LL COOL J, MISSY ELLIOTT & CAPONE 'N NOREAGA, MOBB DEEP, NEW CLIENTS NAS, JA RULE & MAXWELL AND THE NEWEST VIOLATORS JO JO PELLEGRINO & DA FRANCHISE

It's a fact: Violator is everywhere. As a management company, record label, and marketing group, Chris Lighty and Mona Scott have built an impressive multi-media entertainment conglomerate in Violator. And, most importantly, this empire has been created by the powerhouse duo without compromising their integrity, nor the integrity of hip-hop music and culture, the very thing that got the ball rolling over 10 years ago. From Lighty's start hauling crates back in the day for DJ Red Alert, to partnering with Scott as co-heads of Urban Entertainment at Michael Ovitz' Artist Management Group, Violator/AMG has successfully marketed hip-hop from the hood to Hollywood and back. But with music being the core of Violator's business, Lighty and Scott are currently back at the boards, executive producing the July 2001 release, VIOLATOR THE ALBUM: V2.0.

The 1999 release of VIOLATOR THE ALBUM marked an important step for Lighty and Scott's hip-hop empire. Prior to that time, Violator worked under the radar, behind the emerging careers of rappers Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott and Mobb Deep, but with the release of VIOLATOR THE ALBUM, they succeeded in branding the Violator name with the very best in urban music. The album's solid material - praised by Entertainment Weekly as "

ča diamond sharp survey of today's fiercest street funk" - debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart AT #8 and got America's attention enough to earn platinum status. In a carefully planned maneuver, VIOLATOR THE ALBUM's lead single was the first solo music from Q-Tip. That song, "Vivrant Thing," quickly became a summer anthem on radio and dancefloors nationwide, rocketed up the charts to #1 and subsequently earned Grammy, Soul Train, and MTV Award nominations. Soon after, 6 more separate Violator artists' albums entered the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

Now, with the July 17th release of VIOLATOR THE ALBUM V2.0 (Violator Records/LOUD), this installment of the Violator saga promises to bring the heat, and then some. "Expectations are higher - people are looking for us to step it up," explains Lighty.

And step it up they do. With V2.0, Lighty and Scott plan to drop superstar client Busta Rhymes' first new music since leaving long-time label Elektra Entertainment for Clive Davis' J Records, as well as showcase the entire Violator family, old and new. Busta, in a return to the dancefloor bounce that fueled his hits "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" and "Dangerous," teams up with the ever-colorful Kelis on the Neptunes-produced "What It Is Right Now." (The cut will also appear on Rhymes' late-summer J Records debut GENESIS.) Noreaga, who along with his C-N-N partner Capone recently inked a Lighty-brokered deal with Def Jam, also taps the ultra-hot Neptunes for the Tunnel-banger "Grimey." Fueling the fire, "Greatest Of All Time" LL Cool J keeps it street with Ruff Rider beatsmith Swizz Beats on the raucous "Throw Your Hands Up." Completing the coup, lyricist supreme Jadakiss joins Violator Prodigy of Mobb Deep in a true "must have" for any real hip-hop head.

Known for his fierce lyrical darts and mixtape mastery, Jo Jo Pellegrino, Violator's newest and brightest young paesan, joins fellow Staten Islander Method Man on the hard-hitting "Up And At 'Em". (Watch for the young don's solo debut PELLEGRINO STORY this summer on Violator Records.) And currently gearing up for the release of her own much-anticipated album MISS E...SO ADDICTIVE, Missy Elliott gets her freak on with fellow chart-topper and Violator television/film client Ja Rule. Heading south, Violator's Hotlanta rep Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob gets crunk with Mr. "Southern Hospitality" Ludacris and newcomer Young 1. The Violator family meets the So So Def clan in ATL on a Jermaine Dupri track, as yet unnamed.

Also expected on V2.0's update are tracks from Mobb Deepšs Havoc and newly signed Violator clients Nas, Maxwell, and Da Franchise, who will all release albums of their own in 2001.

Eric Nicks, Violatoršs Senior V.P. of A&R, who co-produced the album with Lighty and Scott, explains "We wanted to pair Violatoršs management and label artists with some of the hottest out there, to showcase some of our new artists and to make a fun record that we felt hip-hop needed to hear."