For all the hype about the closing of JDUB Records, no one has bothered to interview Soulico, Girls In Trouble, DeLeon or anyone else who was an artist on JDUB.
I have counted endless Facebook Flame Wars about whether or not the sky is falling on Jewish start ups. I’ve seen the older folks wave their fingers at us good-for-nothing kids who really need tote the party line and stop building silly websites. I’ve seen non-profit consultants wax poetic about “innovation”. And yet, in all this, no one has thought to ask the artists on JDUB anything about the label.
Why? I post this question to you, Jewish media…why has no one interviewed any JDUB bands?
This is the part where you expect a conspiracy theory on my end. But you won’t get one. There’s plenty of really long articles out there by people who didn’t work for JDUB about what-went-wrong.
But JDUB critiques are like memories of Studio 54: if you can remember it, you weren’t really there.
I reached out to several artists, but due to time restraints, the only person who could be interviewed in time for publishing of this article was The Gangsta Rabbi, whose album came out just before mine did.
Here’s what Steve had to say about JDUB. I hope this article will be the last article ever written about what-went-wrong-with-JDUB.
What was it like to be on JDUB?
The greatest thing about being on JDub is that it finally gave me some long sought after credibility. Being on the label that launched Matisyahu and a score of equally good and better artists made me look less of the novelty (which is not bad in itself) and more viable in the industry.
Any special memories…from being on JDUB?
JDub treated their performers special. My two visits to their offices were also memorable on how I was treated by all. That’s so important.
What are your plans now? Releasing on your own? A new label?
I released the first sixteen [albums] on my own and will do the same for numbers nineteen through one hundred plus. As for a new label, I’ll be 104 when that happens, so I will become a baseball player while I wait!
Alicia from Girls In Trouble was also on hand to give a quick statement:
Editors note: it has come to our attention that Jacob Berkman (aka Fundermentalist) may be interviewing some JDUB bands. We will update this article if that is the case.
