New York City Hip-Hop label founded in 1995 by Brian Brater and Jarret Myer,
that promoted independent and unknown underground artists,
including Mos Def and Company Flow among others, putting out a steady stream of quality releases and becoming one of the dominant labels in the underground hip-hop scene in the mid/late 90's.
Started with the financial help of James Murdoch, schoolmate of the two founders, the majority of the label was bought in 1996 by his father, tycoon Rupert Murdoch, through News Corporation.
In 2002 Rawkus signed a joint venture deal with MCA Records.
Soon after, MCA folded and Interscope Records / Geffen Records bought Rawkus.
After the sale of its catalog in 2004, Rawkus split from Geffen.
NOTE: After MCA Records acquired Rawkus they started putting their style cat # on Rawkus releases. So any represses or new releases after the acquisition reflect an MCA Records style catalog number.
The label re-emerged in 2006, signing a new distribution agreement with RED Distribution for the new releases and, in 2007, presenting the "Rawkus 50" project, with which it produced a selection of 50 Hip-Hop artists, known and unknown, distributing the albums through the digital market.
Rawkus issues were distributed by:
- Priority Records (1999–2002)
- MCA Records (2002–2003)
- Geffen Records (2004)
- RED Distribution (2006–2007)
