Macola Records (Pressing Plant)
Social Relation:
In 1983, after the vinyl-pressing plant Cadet folded, Macola Records was acquired during a fire sale by Don Macmillan. Though compact discs would soon take off, cassettes and vinyl still had a shelf life in them. Under new management, Macola Records and a few former employees of Cadet tended to vinyl presses and shrink-wrapping machines in the cramp headquarters located in Hollywood.
Macola Records was perfect for independent artists because it was a printing plant, record label, and distributor all in one. In fact, one thousand dollars would get you five hundred vinyl records, with Macmillan taking a percentage of sales for exchange for distribution. At the same time, owner Don gave artists a certain time frame to collect records that had not been sold. But if they didn't, the vinyl was dropped into a grinder to be pressed into something new. Macola Records ventured into developing their own talent and broke the R&B electro group Timex Social Club with the Billboard Top 10 hit song "Rumors."
Hiphop Outcome:
Macola Records was one of the first record pressing plants for rap music in Southern California. In fact, the record pressing plant is responsible for issuing the first copies of N.W.A.'s groundbreaking single Boyz-N-the-Hood. In 1987, Macola Records signed 2 Live Crew, then a Riverside, California based trio of Air Force servicemen. The trio became the record company's second rap group (behind N.W.A.) to access the plant by pressing up 2 Live Crew's vinyl record, "The Revelation" (Side A) and "It's Gotta Be Fresh" (Side B).
Another early Hiphop artist to access the Hollywood record pressing plant was DJ Egyptian Lover, a breakout artist from the famous Los Angeles' DJ crew Uncle Jamm's Army. Macola Records put out Egyptian Lover's 1984 smash electro-pop hit "Egypt, Egypt" and full-length LP On the Nile. Eventually, Macola Records would go on to release records from a who's who of important California Hiphop artists, including MC Hammer, Too $hort, Ice-T, Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, Arabian Prince, and Digital Underground.