Big Beat Records
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Big Beat Records was an
East Coast subsidiary label of
Atlantic Records featuring dance music.
Founded as an indie label in
1987 by a twenty-two year old
New York deejay
Craig Kallman, the company initially operated out of Kallman's parents' apartment. After making some noise on the underground dance music circuit;
Doug Morris, former head of
Atlantic Records, brought Kallman and Big Beat into the Atlantic stable in
1991.
Although the label originally focused on churning out club and house music; being entrenched in the often cutting edge NY music scene inevitably led to Big Beat also embracing the growing
hip hop movement as the 1990s progressed. In
1998, Kallman was promoted to Vice President of Atlantic. Following his promotion, Big Beat, along with most of its roster was subsequently absorbed into its parent company.
Big Beat's artists have included
Lil Kim,
Changing Faces,
Robin S.,
Junior Mafia, Jomanda,
Jody Watley, Buckethead,
Quad City DJs.
---Big Beat Records is also the name of another, unrelated import distributor that specializes in garage rock. Releases include Mighty Baby.
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