Behind the machine: Rob Stone.
How did you initially enter the world of the music business and when did you decide to start Cornerstone Agency?
Great question. I started at SBK records in 1990 where I worked for Daniel Glass and Virgil Simms. Virgil Simms was at Sleeping Bag records before he was running the urban department. I was an intern, then an assistant to him when I was there. I was working the clubs and bringing 12” vinyls for the DJs really trying to get into the whole music scene. In 1994, Clive Davis hired me at Arista records right when Puff (Diddy) was starting Bad Boy Entertainment there. I had an incredible run at Arista working with LaFace records, Bad Boy and Arista artists. This was from June of ’94 to June of ’96 with the whole launch of Bad Boy. In June of 1996, I started Cornerstone with Steve Rifkind (Loud/SRC) out of the Loud records office. Steve had SRC, which was his marketing company and I was handling radio & marketing for the Loud records artists’ right when I launched Cornerstone Agency. I was also working with steve on his SRC marketing company. In December of 1997, I went out on my own with my partner and best friend Jon Cohen with Cornerstone Agency.
Where you ever an artist yourself? Is it true you used to manage a young Dru Ha (Duck Down Co-CEO) and how is it having Dru Ha as a part of your Cornerstone Agency team?
Oh man! (laughs) I think I recorded some records in the past, but I wouldn’t say I was an artist. It was a great experience, but I’m glad that those records we did will never see the light of day. It is true when a young Dru Ha was a freshman at Syracuse University, I connected with him and he had a rap group called 20-20 which if you will post it on your site I will absolutely give you an mp3 of it LOL! It was great because we were working with a producer in Connecticut and it just wasn’t coming out right and we brought Evil D in and they actually made a bunch of cool records and had some performances. Dru had a better career of it than I had, but realized early on that he’d be a much better executive than an emcee. But the Ill Caucasian definitely had his moments with a slot on one of the great Hip-Hop albums of all times (Black Moon’s “Enta da Stage”). As an intern, I brought Dru Ha in and he was incredible. In the early 90’s, I took him with me and Guru (Gangstarr/R.I.P) to WPGC in D.C. and Dru was great because he was such a fan of Gangstarr. Being on the road with Dru was cool and Guru and Dru hit it off great. I knew back then Dru would go on to do incredible things in the music business.
At what point did you know you wanted to branch out and focus more on marketing and branding?
You know, I always knew I wanted to have my own company. I’ve been blessed my whole life. My Dad had his own warehousing and trucking company for 50 years in East New York Brooklyn and I used to work for him. I always had the bug for Hip-Hop since the Real Roxanne and the music started hitting big in the 80’s. I was the young kid in my grade school with my friends listening to hip-hop with the UTFO records and all that. I knew being in the music business I wanted to have my own company. When you get the opportunity to have role models like my Father who had his own business and going to work for someone like Clive Davis at Arista to being on the front lines with Biggie and Puff, seeing those guys in action watching Puffy operate, I had a real advantage starting my own business at that point. To be able to work with Steve Rifkind who was a creator of one of the first “street teams” in the industry was a plus. Now to have a partner and best friend Jon Cohen, I’ve always been blessed to be around great people. Going back to making t-shirts up at college, I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit.
Who were some of your clients that really helped propel Cornerstone to the next level?
There’s one guy I tell everyone about. He really helped textualize what we really had to do as a company. We really needed a point of difference. It was really early on during the first Cornerstone mixtapes. We were probably on our second mixtape back in 1997, maybe ’98 and I read this article on this guy Darryl Cobbin and I think it was ad week and it credited him from taking Sprite from nowhere to the #2 beverage behind Coca-Cola in like 18 months. They way he did it was by embracing Hip-Hop. We all remember those commercials with Grand Puba being in the studio. I remember my reaction was like somebody really smart is running that campaign. I’ve never seen a brand stick tom me or my generation on that level. I just reached out to the guy…cold called him. I called Coca-Cola in Atlanta 4 or 5 times. He called me back when he received the Cornerstone mixtape and said “You’re on to something, tell me what you’re trying to do?” I explained the business, the network of DJs and how I wanted to work with the brands. He was helpful by stating “You want to be the voice box to the masses in each market” You have the ability to reach today’s youth through real credible avenues, not just advertising. So he really helped shape my thinking and my partner’s early on how to approach corporate America coming from the music business.
You’re also the Co-Founder of FADER magazine, which broke new ground during your 39th issue by selling copies via iTunes. How do you always manage to stay ahead of the competition?
Our mission is to always be ahead of the curve. We’ve been successful giving Drake, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, The White Stripes their first covers and we pride ourselves on that. Obviously, there’s a lot of competition in that space. You guys and the Source magazine’s history is phenomenal with artists you’ve covered first, so it’s a real challenge to stay ahead. However, we’ve always felt with FADER Media it’s about getting great music to people and building an audience.
You’ve worked closely with the Notorious B.I.G., Usher, Outkast, Faith Evans and other very gifted artists under the Arista records umbrella during your tenure there. 15 years later after his passing, what’s the fondest memory you have of Biggie Smalls?
Umm…the best moment, what I think of with B.I.G. is early on in his career, which was pretty amazing. I took B.I.G. out on the B.I.G.-Mack tour, so I was there with Biggie and Craig Mack. We had those McDonalds Big Mac containers that had the cassette in there – one side B.I.G. and one side Craig Mack, which were just samplers of their music. But being out on the road and really getting to know B.I.G. was incredible because there were times, actually Craig Mack had “Flava in your ear” and that was a much bigger record at the time than anything Biggie had out. You know appeal wise. We would do 3-4 shows a night. I mean we were relentless and I give Puff a lot of credit for that. He instilled it in his artists early. He would say my Bad Boy artists are gonna work and we’re gonna get this money. He was dead serious about that and you still see it 15 years later from then. We would just roll up to a club and say we have B.I.G. and Craig Mack from Bad Boy and we’d love to get on stage and perform, which the DJs and the clubs loved. B.I.G. was burnt out. I think he was performing “Juicy” and he started whistling into the mic as his music was playing and just talking about things (laughs). B.I.G. was just a real character and funny. I remember all the late night radio runs talking about our lives and family. B.I.G. was a great listener. I don’t think people got to see that side of him. You get it in his music now because he was so descriptive and incredible.
What are your thoughts on branding?
Everything needs to have some kind of description right. When you think of apple, which is one of the best companies at branding itself. I mean they’re a researching company that provides unbelievable technological service to you. Nike is also a company that’s great at branding itself everyday when you see an athlete wearing the swoosh. I think life would be boring. When it is honest, transparent and legitimate branding is an incredible platform.
As a veteran executive in the entertainment business, what does the Source magazine brand mean to you?
Oh man! I was an intern at SBK records in 1990 with Virgil the first time I met Dave Mays and the Source was a newsletter at the time. I remember Dave coming to SBK trying to convince Virgil to buy advertising in his Hip-Hop newsletter. To see the way it’s grown and see it kind of take the hit it took a few years back and emerge again…it is such a staple in Hip-Hop history. I think the current staff is doing an incredible job getting it back to being an authentic representation of the culture. Not just reporting on it…but creating it!
– Derryck “Nes” Johnson.
