The Billboard Charting Hip Hop Emcee & Entertainment Attorney Feat. Tracey Lee Esq,

In this episode Durell is joined by hip-hop artist and entertainment attorney Tracey Lee Esq. Durell and Tracey begin the episode sharing how they got connected via New Skool Rules. Durell and Tracey talk about the importance of being global and that hip-hop emcees who are real street with their lyrics are able to have a platform like New Skool Rules that gives an opportunity and a platform to be seen and heard from all around the world. Durell shares that he’s always been told that most entertainment attorneys are former disgruntled artists but what makes Tracey different is that he still makes great music. Tracey shares that most indie artists are underrepresented because they are forced to be their own record label and play all the roles that come along with pursuing a career in music. Tracey and Durell talk about indie creatives who actually need the structure of a record label, but even with the help of a label artists need to have a strong working knowledge of how the music business works. Durell shares that he doesn’t look at the indie creatives that he personally manages as his clients but more as family.

Tracey shares that he was first introduced to music by his mother listening to Gospel music. Tracey says that his mother also listened to a lot of R&B which he really enjoyed and then he started playing drums in church. He shares that he remembers trying to direct the choir around the age of 3, and eventually the pastor brought him to the front and had them both directing. Tracey says that’s when the bug to have all eyes on him really began. He said the first time he heard “Rappers Delight” is when he really began to develop a love for hip-hop. He shares that Melle Mel is the first emcee that introduced him to lyrical rap, which he connected to because of what he was seeing in his neighborhood as a young kid. He then heard T La Rock and fell in love with his descriptive wordplay and LL Cool J who brought the energy and swagger to hip-hop. Tracey knew after these experiences that he wanted to pursue rap in a real way. He shares that he would send demos to record companies trying to get a record deal all the way up through high school. He shares that he graduated from high school and although he loved music he had another passion which was sports. He decided on Howard University because he wanted to study mass communications and become a color commentator.

Tracey shares that he only lasted in mass communications for one semester and then he eventually met Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie & Ron Lawrence. They both were heavy into music and found out that Tracey had a talent in rap and eventually brought the passion back for music. He shares that even though he ultimately graduated and got his degree he was fully back in the pursuit of trying to get a record deal. He shares that the great thing about going to Howard University was that there were so many great connections made that ultimately helped to set the table for what was to come. Tracey talks about getting a taste of the indie music hustle when he and a couple of his friends from college started an indie record label and cut a maxi single and that’s where he learned about the different layers of the music business.

Tracey shares that he inked his first record deal with Mark Pitts & his record label Bystorm Entertainment. The record deal was for about 5 albums. Durell and Tracey talk about what it means to get an advance from a record label as well as how royalties are paid out. Tracey talks about what it means to have to recoup the initial advance and why many artists never do so because of the large amount of debt that is accrued to the label. Tracey shares that his debut album “Many Facez” was released in 1997. Durell asked Tracey about the album making process back then and what that process was like. He shares that after he recorded the single “The Theme (It’s Party Time)”and went to work it in New York it was a bit rough because being from Philadelphia he didn’t run in the most common circles and the fact that he was able to get a verse and cosign from Biggie there were some that didn’t like that too much. He said the single didn’t really pop until DJ Red Alert started playing the single and it caught some legs. The label wanted to capitalize and so because Tracey had a lot of quality songs that were on his original demo, the label took quite a bit of those and put his album together. The album was titled “Many Facez '' because a lot of the songs represented the different types of moods Tracey would be in when making the songs.

Tracey shares about his experiences working with hip hop icons Busta Rhymes and Kanye West. He says that Kanye is the same type of person he is now back then. Durell and Tracey talk about him not ever getting the opportunity to go overseas when he had his record deal and even today finding that he has fans in a few different countries overseas. He shares that he is looking forward to getting the opportunity to be able to do some tour dates in those territories and touch those people.

Tracey and Durell end the episode talking about why he decided to pivot and go to law school to become an entertainment attorney. Tracey shared the first trigger on why he decided to go to law school was his bad experiences in the music business. He talks about when he first signed his deal he didn’t hire an entertainment attorney, instead opting to hire a corporate attorney who had no experience in the nuances of the entertainment business. He shares that the second trigger in why he decided to become an attorney is the fact that when he first moved to New York to work on his album, he lost his contract and called his attorney and never heard from him. The final trigger was when he went back to the label after hiring a new lawyer and in his original contract where he was supposed to receive a $10,000 check from his publishing portion of his agreement and the label went back and changed the numbers and when he got the new contract it stated that he was supposed to now only get $1. He talks about being down to his last $7 going to church and putting it into the collection plate and then a couple weeks later getting a call letting him know that Universal had a check for him but didn’t have an address to send it. He shares that he received a check for $7,000 and then a week later another check for $57,000. He knew then he wanted to be a light for artists who had found themselves in a similar situation to him and he could speak to the artistic side as well, having had success in his own right.

Tracey shares that he passed the bar exam and has been a practicing licensed attorney since 2007. He has been able to help many artists coming up as well as some artists who have had very long and established careers such as Kelly Rowland, Solange Knowles and Eric Roberson and Algebra Blessett in the indie music community. Tracey shares that he has also spent time as an educator at Coppin State University where he taught classes on music business. He shares that his passion now is really to educate and if he were to have a real job that would be it especially because he does it naturally. Tracey also shares that he's a part of several industry associations and Durell asks about the diversity when it comes to his colleagues. He shares that when it comes to his home state of Washington D.C. he has seen a lot of diversity.

For more information on Tracey Lee, please visit his website:

https://www.traceyleemusic.com/