Hitmaka Reveals EMPIRE Brought Him Out Atlantic Contract

In the last decade, with countless #1s and over 10 billion streams, chart-topping recording artist/producer/songwriter Hitmaka has evolved into one of the industry’s most decorated executives. The current Vice President of A&R at the indie giant EMPIRE after parting ways from a previous two-year-long VP of A&R position with Atlantic Records in 2021, Hitmaka revealed on the new episode of the Black Effect/iHeart Radio’s R&B Money Podcast with Tank and J. Valentine that his resignation from Atlantic Records wasn’t as easy as people would believe as it took EMPIRE CEO and Founder Ghazi Shami to buy him out of his position with the home of Meek Mill, Cardi B and Jack Harlow.

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Hitmaka began breaking down the EMPIRE/Atlantic situation with the hosts at the 1:31:55 minute mark. He reveals his frustration with Atlantic for only wanting him for the music, rather than grooming him to become a boss and offering unproven artists more money to align with the label. Hitmaka requested is resignation but was roadblocked with a bill by the label before departure. After taking a meeting with EMPIRE, the CEO saw Hitmaka’s vision and offered him a position with the company, moved him to the Bay Area, and paid remainder balance of his current contract at Atlantic Records.

Hitmaka was appointed Vice President of A&Rs at EMPIRE in September 2021. “We’re lucky to have him on the home team at EMPIRE – inspiring and creating with our artists and delivering top-quality music of his own,” said Ghazi Shami in a 2021 press release. “We’re already off to the races with several of Hit’s records charting and have more on the way.”