Wicked Entertainment is a Chicago based independent record label. The label was founded in 1993 by childhood friends Sleepy and Sinbad who met on a schoolyard when Sinbad tried to take Sleepy’s ball. By 1993 Sleepy had dropped out of college and he and Sinbad were doing street promotions for Dick Griffey’s legendary Solar records. Bitten by the bug of the music business, Sleepy and Sinbad had a smoke out and decided starting a new record label, they used the $1500 they were paid for promoting Solar as seed money and Wicked Entertainment was born.
Following in the tradition of late great Eazy E, J. Prince, Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin Sleepy and Sinbad set out to build a strong Independent label , however Wicked Entertainment was focused on Chicago hip-hop and rap.
The first artist to sign with this brand new label was Chicago northsider E.C Illa, whom Sleepy and Sinbad also were friends with since grade school. E.C Illa immediately went to work on Wicked’s first release “Live from the ILL E.P”, and it was an instant success. In the midst of releasing several more E.C Illa projects they signed latin rap group Los Marijuanos, Disco and Vibe Mello. Wicked Entertainment quickly became a solid source for authentic Chicago rap music.
Wicked Entertainment was the first independent label to have videos on B.E.T’s rap city and hold the number one spot for The Video Juke Box with E.C Illa’s “On Ill”. Wicked Entertainment and it’s artist Los Marijuanos were regular guests on Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, a nationally syndicated radio show that was also televised. As a result of their growing popularity Wicked Entertainment was also featured in several magazines including Rap Pages, Murder Dog and The Source. They continued to solidify the Wicked Entertainment brand locally by establishing several retail outlets in local flea markets and pop up shops at car shows ,large festivals, and trade shows.
In 2000 Wicked Entertainment released it’s classic two part compilation series entitled “The Wicked Streets of Chi” “The first Episode” & “The Classics”. This project was a collection of Chicago’s most prolific artist including Twista, D.A Smart, Legendary Traxster, Co Still, Triple Darkness, and more. With a successful track record of releases Wicked E as it is called by it’s fans began to expand it’s brand. In 2001 Wicked E. aired it’s first episode of Wicked T.V , a video entertainment magazine that featured local artist as well as established artist as they relate to the growing Chicago entertainment scene. The show had a viewership of 1.2 million, ran for 30 episodes and won “best show awards” for two years.
After three years of restructuring and establishing other businesses, Sleepy and Sinbad has relaunched the Wicked Entertainment label. Wicked E. has now placed it’s focus on the digital medium, including expanded digital distribution for it’s catalogue as well as new music. Wicked has also partnered with youtube.com for the re-release of their Wicked T.V, music videos and new video
content.
Wicked E. is celebrating it’s twenty year anniversary this summer (2013) with releases from their new signee’s Co Still and Dj Waxmaster. You can also expect new music from the platinum recording trio DO or DIE as a result of a newly formed partnership. Along with those releases will return the “Wicked Streets of Chi” Compilation series featuring Chicago’s new generation of talent.
Wicked E. 20 years in the game
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