Louise West was the lawyer in the room before most of hip hop knew it needed one. She started as a copyright examiner in Washington, DC, built West Entertainment Services in New York, and co-founded BESLA, the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, after the National Bar Association told its entertainment lawyers they couldn’t meet on their own.
Jeffrey Sledge sits down with Louise to trace the whole run. She marched with John Lewis at Fisk until somebody kicked her in the back, then asked for an office job instead. She talks about her engagement to jazz great Donald Byrd, the Howard University class that put her in a room with Angela Winbush and Tawatha Agee, and learning promotion from Stax legend Al Bell. Then the deals. Missy Elliott going through her first contract line by line. Timbaland, Magoo, and Ginuwine following her into the office. A quiet Jay-Z promising to be the last man standing at Roc-A-Fella. Louise explains how Roc-A-Fella passed on a Sony deal that let them buy back their masters, how Hip Hop Since 1978 waited out the bad days until Kanye West walked through the door, and why she tells clients to pass their catalogs down instead of cashing out.
This is Mixed and Mastered with Louise West.
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