Steve Rifkind on Inventing the Street Team, Signing Big Pun Blind, and Breaking Akon

Steve Rifkind grew up inside the record business. His father and uncle ran Spring Records, home to Joe Simon, Millie Jackson, and Fatback. Steve wanted in for the scene, not the music. Then his grandfather laid out the options: dead, jail, or the family business.

He picked the road. Three years riding with promotion legends Joe Medlin and Dave Clark became his college. A $300,000 cartoon deal about rapping frogs died at the closing table. A call from Hiram Hicks got him out of bed and into managing New Edition. With $3,000 to his name, he mailed out flyers and came back with $140,000 in business. The street team was born. He still owns the name.

Then his dad called him an idiot for turning down a label deal. Loud Records followed: Twista, the Alkaholiks, Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Big Pun, Three 6 Mafia, the Beatnuts. Steve breaks down the RZA strategy that put Wu members on every label, signing Pun on Fat Joe's word, Q-Tip's hands on The Infamous, and the merger he calls the biggest mistake of his life.

Plus: Heavy D's tough-love wake-up call, launching SRC with David Banner and Akon, giving Scooter Braun his first deal with Asher Roth, working with Mary J. Blige, Wu-Tang's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and a new venture with Atlanta's Magic City.

This is Mixed and Mastered with Steve Ripkind.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Follow @mixedandmasteredpod to join the conversation.