Epic Records’ Sylvia Rhone Warns Against Diluting Hip-Hop

Friday (June 23) the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills was the location of the third annual Culture Creators Awards ceremonies. Hosted by A.J. Calloway and Tanika Ray of “Extra,” this year’s awards served to honor minority leaders in film, television, music and fashion.

Among the honorees were ESPN’s Jemele Hill, “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, and receiving the Icon Award was Sylvia Rhone.

The theme of the evening was centered around the protection of entertainment curated by black creators and in her speech, Rhone, who has spear headed the crossover of hip-hop for over four decades touched on that duty.

“Our one common goal is to protect the culture,” she said, per Variety. “Now more than ever, since our culture has gotten so popular and those people who have never been a part of the culture but see that they can make a lot of money [on it], we have to watch very closely. There’s a feeding frenzy and [these] people are the buyers not the believers.”

Rhone, the first woman of color to head up a major label company also noted that it was important to preserve the quality of hip-hop music and its culture: “If we’re not careful to curate really closely, it will start to dilute the importance of what we built since the 80s, and what they just discovered in 2018 […] I started in hip-hop in the early and mid-80s — it was from my heart and the people working around you, and now it’s an analytical decision. This is an important turning point.”

Other being honored on Friday included Live Nation Urban president Shawn Gee, RCA Records EVP and co-founder of the Keep Cool imprint Tunji Balogun and Roc Nation’s EVP of media and strategic development Jana Fleishman.

Check out the full list of Culture Creator Awards recipients:

Icon Award
Music
Sylvia Rhone
President, Epic Records

The Defiance Award
Media
Jemele Hill
Chief Correspondent & Sr. Columnist, The Undefeated ESPN

Business
Lauren Wesley Wilson
President ColorComm, Inc.

Dance/Art
Fatima Robinson
Choreographer & Director

Fashion
Brea Stinson
Owner & Fashion Designer, STINSON HAUS

Film & Television
Charles D. King
Founder & CEO, MACRO

Kenya Barris
Writer & Producer, Creator of “Black-ish”

Finance
Rashaun Williams
General Partner, MVP All-Star Fund

Music
Shawn Gee
President, Live Nation Urban

Tunji Balogun
Co-Founder, Keep Cool/EVP, A&R RCA Records

Public Relations
Jana Fleishman
EVP Media & Strategic Development, Roc Nation