Episode 191: Faith Newman Show/Hide Search
Faith Newman is a longtime music executive who got her start—while still in college—at Def Jam Records in 1987, back when you could count the number of employees on one hand. But she is most remembered for her time at Columbia Records in A&R, where she discovered and signed a young rapper from Queensbridge who had all of New York City buzzing. She then played a key role in creating that artist’s debut album. That rapper—Nas—and the album—Illmatic—would change hip-hop forever.
But that’s only part of Faith’s story. In addition to playing a key early role in Def Jam, she also signed or oversaw albums by the likes of LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Jamiroquai, Big L, and even Miles Davis. She is now the Senior Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development at Reservoir Media, a music publishing company.
Tracks featured in this episode:
- LL Cool J, “Ahh, Let’s Get Ill”
- LL Cool J, “Get Down”
- Breeze, “L.A. Posse”
- Vinyl: Weeks Ahead Trailer (HBO)
- Big Fun In The Big Town - Dutch TV Hip Hop Doc (1986)
- Oran “Juice” Jones, “Money, Honey”
- The Black Flames, “Watching You”
- LL Cool J, “Mama Said Knock You Out”
- LL Cool J, “Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling)”
- LL Cool J, “To Da Break Of Dawn - Remix”
- Slick Rick, “I Shouldn’t Have Done It”
- Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples, “Last Asiatic Disciple”
- Main Source, “Live At The Barbeque”
- Nas, “Just Another Day In The Projects”
- Nas, “Nas Will Prevail”
- Wild Style - Film completo - SUB ITA - Parte 3
- Nas, “The Genesis”
- Big L, “Put It On”
- Big L, “Da Graveyard”
- Nas, “Street Dreams”
- Nas f/Lauryn Hill, “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)”
- Jamiroquai, “When You Gonna Learn? (J.K. Mix)”
- 2Pac, “I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto”
- Jane Blaze f/Sauce Money, “Slow Down”
- Kasino f/Nite & Day, “Nasty Girl”
- R. Kelly, “I Believe I Can Fly”
- Nas, “Black Zombie”
- Miles Davis f/Easy Mo Bee, “Blow”
- The Delphonics, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”
- First Choice, “Armed and Extremely Dangerous”
- The Coupe De Villes, “When Times Are Bad”
- The Nat Turner Rebellion, “Love, Peace And Understanding”
- Jimmy Smith, Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Al Jackson Jr., “Let’s Stay Together”
- Spoonie Gee Meets The Sequence, “Monster Jam”
Show notes:
- “No Doubt” campaign slipmat
- “No Doubt” campaign compilation CD tracklist/credits
- Faith Newman, “What Teddy Meant To Me (Or ‘Reflections Of A White Girl Misunderstood’)”
- Forbes.com, “Just Blaze Signs A Publishing Deal With Reservoir”
- NPR Music, “Faith Newman: ‘Who Is This Kid? And I Signed Him’”
- Spin, “John Mellencamp Says He Left Columbia Because of Extremely Racist Label President”