COJO AND DEF JAM'S RICK ROSS' POWER MANAGER KEVON GLICKMAN
8-10-06 POST RATED: Rick Ross, Def Jam, Rick Ross, CD Release, Port of Miami, Record Drop, Respect Management, Kevon Glickman, Fugees, Lauren Hill, Cojo, Jay-Z
I recently did a little illustration job for Miami Rap Artist RICK ROSS. He just released his new album PORT OF MIAMI this week for DEF JAM, in collaboration with Jay-Z, Brisco, Dre, and Trick Daddy. He's one of the few big rappers from Miami who's keeping the Miami rap scene alive.
Music aside he and I both have some things in common. We are both about the same height (Although Ross outweighs me by about 80 lbs), we have both COLLABORATED ON PROJECTS WITH JAY-Z, and weirdest of all we both used to have the same manager. I stopped by the Philadelphia offices of Power Manager KEVON GLICKMAN ESQ.'s RESPECT MANAGMENT last week to catch-up on old times.
KEVON GLICKMAN ESQ. (Cojo and Kevon stand above in front of a giant Rick Ross poster 8-4-06 ) is a Philadelphia Super Lawyer and a Power Agent / Manager who discovered Lauren Hill, Pras, Wyclef Jean and The Fugees; in the 90's launched careers for groups Cypress Hill and Kriss Kross when he was president of RUFFHOUSE RECORDS & RUFFNATION RECORDS and also worked in the art world in the 80's, throwing shows for both Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Herring. He has a reputation for discovering big talents before they blow-up, and taking them to the next level.
Kevon founded RESPECT MANAGMENT in Philly a few years ago (You will notice that I did all the art for their site, most of it was from past projects). I was originally just commissioned as a freelance artist to design the RESPECT MANAGEMENT LOGO (Which is printed on the Rick Ross CD- both Jacket Back, and on the CD itself). After that Kevon offered me a management deal. I was the only visual artist he had ever taken on (still to this day) as the majority of their clients are Musicians, Actors, Athletes, and Entertainment Personalities. Thanks Kev.
Anyway after about a year and a half after we started working together we amicably parted ways. At the time I was too deeply involved in the freelance commercial and print worlds of art and although Kevon pushed me towards it, I wasn't fully ready to sink my energies into the fine art world (which is his expertise).
Since I've gone back to managing myself fulltime I've continued to evolve forward in both the commercial and fine art worlds and have continued building a name for myself based on the foundations of my time with Respect under the tutelage of Mr. Glickman.
Respect still calls me from time to time to commission me for illustration and design projects, and I'm totally into helping them out like they helped me. Just this past week before Rick Ross' album dropped (having recently finished a project for Ross) I stopped by Respect to say hi to Kevon, and to take my girlfriend TRACY out to lunch. Tracy is pulling double duty this summer working as a Law Clerk for Jacobs Law Group, and Respect Management (Jacobs is Respect Management's Parent Company --side note: If you remember the OFFICE OLYMPICS feature I did for Maxim, the Jacobs Law Group Lawyers were the guys that were cool enough to pose for me in their suits.) Here's a PHOTO I took of Tracy at work with her hair up for business.
So before we left for lunch I shot the shit with Kevon for a while and hung out at Respect meeting Tracy's co-workers and pounding diet cokes. Kevon was beat, in that launching an album takes a lot of legal paperwork, and a lot of hype and promotion. From looking over Ross' schedule he was shooting from MTV, to BET, to Wendy Williams, to Sirius, back to MTV (something like this, all in one day with photo shoots and magazine interviews in between, and the same shit the next day.
Respect's office is really crazy because the walls are lined floor to ceiling with all the Gold and Platinum records Kevon has had a part in. One that caught my eye because it was new and unique was the Rick Ross Plaque. Rick Ross set a record for Def Jam, for selling a million ring tones on a song that the album hasn't been released yet. So what do they send you when you hit the million mark in ring tones?
Isn't that crazy? I had to photograph that shit.
Good luck to Rick Ross. The grind has gotta be taking a toll on the big man. I wish I would have cleared time in my schedule to make it to NYC for his CD Release party. Turns out they all ended up chilling at Busta Rhymes' pad after the club. Would have been cool as fuck. Next time. . . (I'm missing the NYC nights right about now)
