Tunji Balogun and Archie Davis | In Proximity | Ep. 04

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 transcripts: https://proximitymedia.com/podcast/in...

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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
Production Assistant: Polina Cherezova

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ABOUT PROXIMITY MEDIA:
We're the production company that helped bring you CREED III, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY, HOMEROOM, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER PODCAST & SOUNDTRACK. Coming Soon: IN PROXIMITY, STEPHEN CURRY: UNDERRATED, IRONHEART, ANTHEM.