Who The Heck Is Wendy Day?

Wendy Day founded the not-for-profit Rap Coalition in 1992 out of disgust for the way urban artists are unfairly exploited in the music industry. Wanting to shift the balance of power to favor the artists, Wendy dumped her life savings (selling her condo, and her BMW) into starting the advocacy organization to support, educate, protect, and unify hip hop artists and producers—to keep them from getting jerked.  She became a fan of rap music in the early 1980s, and turned her passion into a career in the music business.

Since 1992, Rap Coalition has impacted the urban music industry by helping, for free, thousands of artists, DJs, and producers individually, as well as through monthly panel discussions, seminars, showcases, and fair deal negotiations. Rap Coalition has also offered health care and dental benefits, coordinated the panels at many major urban music conventions, as well as instituting a mentor program for up and coming artists.

Today, Rap Coalition continues to break unfairly oppressive  contracts (pulling artists out of bad deals), and teaches the business side of the music industry to thousands of artists and industry hopefuls from around the country.  All, for free.

Rap Coalition answers to a Board Of Advisors which reads as a veritable Who’s Who in the rap music industry, consisting of Chuck D from Public Enemy, Vinnie from Naughty By Nature, David Banner, Keith Murray, Young Buck, Gipp from Goodie Mob, Too Short, Ras Kass, Do Or Die, Pimp C from UGK, Easy Mo Bee, C-Murder, B.G., KLC from Beats By The Pound, 8Ball, MJG, Shawty Redd, Evil Dee from Black Moon, Brotha Lynch Hung, Bizzy Bone, Mannie Fresh and Schoolly D. Prior to his death, Tupac Shakur was the first member of Rap Coalition’s Board of Advisors. Rap Coalition is currently based in Atlanta, having relocated from New York City in 2005.

One of Wendy’s personal priorities is to consult and help build regional and national independent urban record labels so artists can regain control of their own art form. She has helped to consult Cash Money Records, Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), David Banner, Fiend, Young Buck, Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thugz Entertainment (CTE), No Limit Records, C-Murder, Do Or Die, Trill Entertainment (Lil Boosie & Webbie), BloodRaw, DJ Screw, Trae Tha Truth, TMI Boyz Records, Think It’s A Game (Rich Homie Quan, YFN Lucci, Trinidad James), Trouble’s DuctTape, and many others.  In 2009, TMI Boyz had the distinction of being the #2 independent record label in any genre of music according to Nielsen and Billboard Magazine, an accolade not uncommon to Ms Day.  She has helped build many of the successful indie labels that still exist in rap today.

Consistent with this goal, Ms Day has negotiated stellar distribution deals in urban music. She played a part in Eminem’s deal at Aftermath/Interscope, Master P’s No Limit deal with Priority Records, UGK’s renegotiation with Jive Records, and Ruff Ryder’s renegotiation with Interscope. She negotiated the incredible joint venture deal for Twista with Atlantic Records in 1996, which both The Source and Rap Pages magazines called “the best deal in the history of Black music.” She topped her own record with the now famous $30 million dollar deal for Cash Money Records with Universal. Wendy’s focus is complete control and ownership for the independent labels or artists she represents. Master P was the first artist to keep control and ownership of 100% of his masters for No Limit. The money Wendy Day has earned negotiating these deals has gone into funding the not-for-profit Rap Coalition.

Wendy Day has written extensively about the urban music industry via columns in numerous publications.  She has contributed to the following: The Source, RapPages, VIBE, Blaze, the RAPCOINTELPRO column in Murder Dog, Ego Trip, The Final Call,  Word Up, Tech.Nically Speaking in Tech.Nitions Magazine, The Connection, 4080, The Fever, Beat Down, Props, Flavor, The Bomb, Ignition, Insomniac, Rap Sheet, BRE, mp3.com, rapstation.com, manhunt.com, 88hiphop.com, hiphopnow.com, daveyd.com, volume.com, etc.  Wendy has most recently written two popular monthly columns: one in Ozone Magazine (“Mathematics”) for over 9 years, and one at AllHipHop.com (“The Day Report”) for close to 3 years.  She has a “how to” book that is 100% self-published called “The Knowledge To Succeed: How To Get A Record Deal,” and she is mentioned extensively in Upski’s “Bomb The Suburbs,” and Dan Charnas’ “The Big PayBack.”  While hard at work on her next book, “Making Money With Your Music,” for independent artists and those who want to start their own labels, Wendy found time to setup up an educational website to teach artists and industry workers how to make money with music.  SlavesNoMore.com will launch in the Spring of 2017.  Iconic rapper, Slick Rick, has just completed the audio version of How To Get A Record Deal for release in November 2016.

Wendy Day has been at the leading edge of making change in the way the music industry conducts business and her name is synonymous with fairness and education. She is at the forefront of trends and market shifts in today’s urban music industry. She has dedicated herself to finding new ways for artists to increase their streams of income, since selling records through a major label is almost never profitable for the artist.  The bulk of artists in rap music are coming through her offices, and record labels seek out her opinion on trends, styles, and regions of talent explosion. It is difficult to find an artist today, either established or up and coming, who hasn’t been touched by this woman. More than once, Source Magazine has named her among “The Power 30,” an annual ranking of the most influential people in urban music.  Wendy has been featured in VH1’s “The Tanning Of America,” along with numerous documentaries such as Beef 1, Beef 2, Beats and Rhymes, 16 Bars, and many others.  Additionally, she is featured in many of the Eminem documentaries, such as A&E Bio: The Eminem Story, and E! Eminem.  She has received awards from Bigga Rankin’s Ghetto Grammys, the Diamond Awards, TJsDJs, The Core DJs Legend Awards, the Southern Entertainment Awards, THUG Awards, AllHipHop Awards, etc, although accolades are not what drives this woman.

Frustrated with all of the misinformation on the internet about the music business, Wendy launched a YouTube channel in September 2016 to educate artists for free with short bursts of information.  It’s not meant to be a thorough explanation of the music industry, but a nice start towards artists (and industry folks) seeking out accurate information to build their careers.  RapJewels.com is a companion website that archives all of the videos and adds articles or further explanation of a topic.

Ms Day holds an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design, an MBA in Marketing (McGill University), and a Master’s Degree in African American Studies (Temple University).  She currently resides in Atlanta, GA with her little five pound chihuahua, Gangster, and her boyfriend Tony (who weighs a bit more than five pounds).

She is reachable via email at ThisIsWendyDay@gmail.com, on Twitter and Instagram @RapCoalition, and at 404.474.1999.

For more information: www.WendyDay.com or Google her.

Free articles on my Blog at www.IndustryReport.com

Educational YouTube channel at YouTube.com/ThisIsWendyDay which also archives along with more in depth explanations at RapJewels.com

In 2016, Wendy launched AskWendyDay.com to offer individual consultations to people that need one on one information and suggestions about their careers , the music business, etc.  Consultations are by phone or by Skype and there is a fee for these.

• Rap Coalition
• PowerMoves, LLC
• Wendy Day, LLC
• 3000 Old Alabama Road, Suite 171
• Alpharetta, GA 30022
• 404.474.1999

Tagged: Artists, CDs, Charts, DIY, entertainment, how to, just do it, marketing, Motivation, music business, music industry, promotion, rap coalition, Success, wendy day

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