About this episode
From assistant desks at Interscope Records to the Def Jam C-suite, Tunji Balogun and Archie Davis share their journey as music industry executives. Tunji is CEO and Chairman of Def Jam Recordings while Archie is Def Jam’s Chief Creative Officer and Proximity Media’s Co-Founder and Co-Head of Music alongside Ludwig Göransson. Tunji was a rapper before transitioning into music marketing and A&R, signing artists like Childish Gambino, SZA, and H.E.R. Archie was a leading architect on the Black Panther and Wakanda Forever soundtracks, the award-winning Wendy’s We Beefin? EP, and the Judas and the Black Messiah soundtrack and Academy Award-winning original song “Fight For You” by H.E.R. They explain what A&R really means (1:52) and discuss navigating careers in the music business (4:22), aspiring to be the greatest executive and rapper alive a.k.a. Jay-Z (23:10), the Black Panther soundtracks and Tunji’s Nigerian roots (27:06), their top 5 space albums (35:55), and Prox Recs (38:04). Learn more and read the transcript of this conversation at ProximityMedia.com . CONNECT WITH PROXIMITY MEDIA: Follow us on Twitter , Instagram , and TikTok . We’re also on YouTube . Learn more at ProximityMedia.com . Text PROX to 510-998-3176 or head to subtext.to/prox for updates on new episodes and latest projects from Proximity Media. CREDITS: In Proximity is a production of Proximity Media. Producer: Paola Mardo Executive Producers: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Paola Mardo Theme Song and Additional Music: Ludwig Göransson Sound Designer and Mix Engineer: Ken Nana Episode Editor: Cedric Wilson Production Assistant: Polina Cherezova