The climbing West Coast label that is Top Dawg Entertainment, has been capturing the eyes of the world, with their acclaimed lyricists, incredible marketing, and quality. But the true force behind the power house lies behind it’s curator, Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith.
As Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith, Kendrick Lamar, and ScHoolboy Q gear up to blaze the cover of Billoard, a preview of what we can expect has been released. Anthony ‘Top Dog’ tiffith details his stardom and explains how he was able to build the up and coming empire:
“Every guy from the streets has the same story: There comes a time when you have to get out of that world,” says Tiffith. “I lost a lot of friends, saw a lot of partners locked up. When things got kinda hot, I had to find something else to do.” One of Tiffith’s uncles had found success managing R&B singer Rome, whose 1997 single “I Belong to You (Every Time I See Your Face)” peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100. “I was out here dodging bullets and the police, and he had Bentleys and a big house. I thought, ‘Shit, I can’t go to jail doing music – let me try that.’ ”
Tiffith speaks on TDE’s first signee Jay Rock, a Watts native and states:
“I’m Jay Rock’s big homie – we’re from the same project,” says Tiffith. “When I started looking for artists, here was a guy right in my backyard that sounded great. At the time, Jay was doing a lot of the shit I was doing back in the day. He used to run from me, but I finally caught him getting a haircut on a porch in the projects. I parked around the corner, ran up and grabbed him. He said, ‘What did I do, man?’ I said, ‘I want to take you to my studio – you can rap like a motherf-er.’ ” Another neighborhood kid to capture Tiffith’s attention was a teenaged Lamar. At the time, Lamar called himself “K. Dot” and still was in the process of developing his skills. “It was just me and my partner Dave [Free, now TDE’s co-president], making little mixtapes in the garage,” recalls Lamar, 26. “I was 16 and just having fun.”
Tiffith says about his first meetings with Kendrick:
“I told Kendrick to get on the mic and flow over some beats I chose. I like to make rappers spit over double-time beats to try to stumble their ass up – but he was rapping like a motherf-er! I tried to act like unimpressed, but that made him go even harder. He stepped up, and we’ve been rocking together ever since.”
“If it wasn’t for Top Dawg, I wouldn’t be doing this,” says Kendrick Lamar. “We came from the same neighborhood, and he made it out. I was just a kid from the projects running wild, and he took me off the streets and put me in the studio. I’ve been there ever since… When you come from the struggle of the streets, you want to do something different. Top Dawg was an OG from the projects who’d been there and done that but then went on to build something so positive. That was important to all of us.”
Check out the full cover story on Billboard!
