who are OF signed to?
They have a label deal with Sony Music, and are distributed by RED (the old Relativity Entertainment). However Tyler released "Goblin" under XL Records a UK subsidiary of Interscope (and received a lot of backing from them in the process). he basically used that as leverage for the label deal because their manager Chris Clancy is with mad people in the industry.
Earl is signed to Columbia Music though and has a label deal through them which allows him to put the OF logo on his albums even though he isnt signed to them (and is a smart way of saying "If me and Tyler fall out, I'm still a boss")
How do you know all this shyt? Props good post.
Pretty sure he got noticed by Dre somewhere between Overly Dedicated dropping and Section 80 being made. Might have even been after Section 80 dropped if you account for the fact that everyone in TDE got distribution from Interscope along with Kendrick signing to Aftermath. From their perspective Kendrick might have been the only one they wanted so it might have took awhile to negotiate the deal. Either way I don't see how it matters. Section 80 still wasn't distributed by anyone other than TDE, he still got all the independent money for it, and most importantly, it's still a dope album.
And Jay Rock had songs with Lil Wayne, Game, and a bunch of dudes long before the deal or even the Strange Music deal. Did that mean he was somehow already signed to Aftermath as well then got dropped or something?