REAL TALK: BOOM TIME IN BELUGA HEIGHTS
January 13, 2007
J.R. Rotem's Joint Venture With Sony/Epic Is His Dream World
HILLARY CROSLEY
Few people can say they get down with both 50 Cent and the Game, let alone created crossover pop hits for Rihanna. But J.R. Rotem, son of Israeli immigrants and a California native, is that guy. I also must point out that he produced my favorite song from Mobb Deep's "Blood Money" album, "In Love With the Moula." Rotem's recently secured a new venture with Sony/Epic.
"It's a multimillion-dollar, joint-venture label deal with Sony/Epic," Rotem says of the three-year deal. "Beluga Heights is the name of my label. It's the parent company, including the label, publishing company, clothing line and a bunch of other things. A lot of labels were interested, but we went with [Epic president] Charlie Walk because he was so excited about the music. You play him a song and he's dancing on his desk."
Rotem says Beluga Heights is his dream world. "It's like a made-up place which represents success," he says. "For example, beluga is a very high-end caviar, if you go to a high-end car dealership like Bentley, their black is called beluga. The BH in our logo is like the sign for Beverly Hills, and we basically work out of Beverly Hills. It's a place of success, positivity and hard work."
Rotem runs the company with his manager and partner Zach Katz, his A&R guy Tommy Rotem and his head pop writer Evan Boggart, who penned Olivia and 50 Cent's spring hit, "Best Friend."
Tommy Rotem recently discovered Beluga's first act, Sean Kingston. "He's a 16-year-old prodigy," J.R. Rotem says. "I wasn't interested in signing artists, but my little brother, Tommy Rotem, found him on MySpace and developed him before he showed him to Zach and I. And he blew us away. He sings in Jamaican patois and raps about his life in Jamaica's hood. Things in Jamaica can be rough, they've got 13-year-olds running crack houses with guns over there. But he isn't the type of kid that tries to be hard. He's like a teddy bear."
Meanwhile, Rotem has been busy producing folks ranging from Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and Rick Ross to Rihanna, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Ashley Tisdale and Hayden Panettiere of the NBC show "Heroes."
Of course, I had to ask if he thought Dr. Dre's "Detox" was finally going to come out in 2007.
"Dr. Dre's a perfectionist, and if it's not up to his standards, which are pretty much the highest in the game, then he's not releasing it," Rotem says. "He changes the sound of music every time he comes out. So though I can't say for sure, I'd like to say it is. Last year he was focusing on Busta and the Game's albums. But 'Detox' is his main focus now."
And what of Mr. Curtis Jackson?
"I'm working very closely with 50 and he doesn't seem angry. He's at the top of the game. He's focused on making an album to save hip-hop, and I think a lot of people feel that way. 50 is an incredible force, who doesn't need to put out an album for money or respect. He's got both so we're trying to make a new sound. He's a trendsetter like Britney is in pop music."
Rotem isn't stopping at hip-hop, either. "Beluga is a mainstream pop label," he says. "We're looking at rock groups, pop, urban male R&B, whatever that will be big in crossover. For us, we have to make sure the artists have the crossover opportunity to become worldwide artists."
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