MICKEY “MeMpHiTz†WRIGHT
VICE PRESIDENT OF JIVE A&R
CEO OF HiTz COMMITTEE
Mickey "MeMpHiTz" Wright earned his nickname at Arista Records churning out hits with Youngbloodz and J-Kwon; at Jive Records he continued his winning streak via T-Pain, and now with HiTz Committee artist Huey in heavy rotation, MeMpHiTz is an undeniable Player to Watch in 2007.
A native of Memphis, TN, Wright’s rise to industry success was born from overwhelming circumstances. In April 2001 his father was kidnapped and murdered and within the same period of time he learned he’d fathered a daughter. At a time when others might’ve felt paralyzed, MeMpHiTz made a drastic move.
"I had to get away because I felt I was headed for something bad if I didn’t leave right then," MeMpH told SOHH.
Confident success would come vis-Ã -vis music, Wright sold his belongings and moved to New York, heading directly from the airport with bags in tow to audio engineering classes at the Institute of Audio Research.
"I really let my mouth take me the rest of the way, asking this or that, grabbing coattails on the way to what ended up being an internship at Arista Records through my school," MeMpHiTz told SOHH. Though warned the internship would mostly entail errand-running, Wright proceeded on.
The first six months of Wright’s internship in Arista’s video department yielded little more than the promised errands and a slow education in label operations, but eventually a mailroom friend brought Wright along for his daily delivery on the A&R floor. That experience offered Wright the opportunity to meet Mark Pitts who recognized Wright’s hustle-ability immediately.
"He said, ’why don’t you tell your floor Mark Pitts said you are going to be an intern up here.’ I was like, ’Man I’m doing that right now,’" Wright remembered.
Quickly establishing himself as "The Intern" for Arista’s A&R department, Wright’s hard work soon paid off.
"They had started calling me "MeMpHiTz" because I was from Memphis and told them I was going to be making hits... I used to work so hard just to get little benefits like being able to sit in the meetings and not say nothing. LA used to be looking like ’Who is this dude sitting in the corner?" MeMpH laughed.
During one A&R meeting, SoSoDef executive Jermaine Dupri raised the issue of Atlanta rap duo Youngbloodz. Though still an intern, his Southern roots and familiarity with the group’s sound made the project ideal for MeMpHiTz. He raised his hand and volunteered - surprisingly JD agreed.
MeMpHiTz flew to Atlanta where he’d arranged a studio session for the Youngbloodz with Lil’ Jon, whose career was beginning to skyrocket at the time. Though initially wary of their new "A&R," the Youngbloodz walked out of the three day session with their soon-to-be smash hit "Damn," quickly earning MeMpHiTz the approval of JD and Antonio "LA" Reid.
While working with the Youngbloodz, MeMpHiTz learned of a young artist in St. Louis by the name of J-Kwon. After meeting the young upstart, Wright decided to showcase the youngster for L.A. and JD.
"He did his showcase and acted a fool. He mooned JD and LA, I thought I was gonna get fired. Everyone was quiet, looking at me, and all of a sudden L.A. said ’Congratulations on your first signing.’ A couple months later I came back with ’Tipsy’ and it was a wrap after that," Wright drawled.
As MeMpHiTz’s career took off, things at Arista began to fall apart. Unable to bring Wright to Def Jam with him, LA Reid introduced MeMpHiTz to attorney Steve Shapiro who guided him through his first bidding war.
"I was in a meeting every week with every label, just telling them about myself," Wright recalled, "When I talked to Jive I immediately got the notion this guy was the one who’d let me create my empire."
Last year, MeMpHiTz scored big at Jive by signing singer/songwriter T-Pain, whose megahits "I’m Sprung" and "I’m n Luv (Wit a Stripper)" bolstered his position with the label. More recently, Wright brought aboard Hitz Committee signee Huey who can be seen in his video "Pop, Lock and Drop It" (alongside MeMpHiTz) regularly on MTV and BET.
"My whole slogan is ’In Hitz We Trust.’ Left up to these labels, if you ain’t bringing hits you ain’t making no paper and they ain’t fuckin’with you, so I live by my name and company slogan," MeMpHiTz said. "Hits have been going on forever, if it’s a hit, people go buy it. People love hits and people love hit artists, so when I say Hitz Committee, I’m not just saying the music, I’m saying the artist also."
MeMpHiTz’ Playography
Projects
Hitz Committee - Mickey "MeMpHiTz" Wright’s label "If anyone feels they are the next star or have the next SMASH hit I need to sign or know someone they feel is the next big discovery they can find me at www.myspace.com/hitzcommittee or make submissions at [email protected]."
UGK - Underground Kingz album -"Just dropped that "International Player’s Anthem" featuring Outkast."
Huey - Hitz Committee Presents: Huey... Notebook Paper "My first artist off my label. I just hope people love it, because I love it."
Asia Cruise - singer Hitz Committee Presents: Who is Asia Cruise
T-Pain Epiphany
Hitz Committee Presents: Memphitz... Welcome to My City- Compilation Album - "I’mma have producers from Memphis, artists from Memphis, Yo Gotti, Three 6 Mafia. I’ll have maybe a song with T-Pain that you can only get on my album. I don’t think my city gets enough attention even though we did win an Oscar. I’mma try to throw love to my city through everything I do. That’s where I came from and I carry my city through half of my name, everwhere I go. I rep my city with this name and putting out these mothafreakin hits."
Sean Paul - (from Youngbloodz) Watch Me Do My Thing
Watchlist
Asia Cruise- "Watch out for Asia Cruise. She’s a beast."
Ray "RayRo" Romulus- "My homeboy over at Def Jam."
Quote of the Year
"In Hitz We Trust..."
"With No Vision, there’s no success."