In the ’90s, Oscar was fortunate to secure one of the very rare intern roles at MCA Records. During his 6 months as an intern, he quickly built relationships with the team at MCA, and worked on the promotions team for some of the greatest artists of all time: including Mary J. Blige’s album “411”, Jodeci’s albums “Forever my lady” and “Diary of a mad band”, Father MC’s album “Close to you”, Christopher Williams’ album “Changes”, Heavy D. and the Boys’ album “Blue Funk”, Guy’s Album “New Jack Swing”, Al B. Sure’s Album “In Effect Mode”, and many others. Oscar worked very hard, and this created lifelong friendships that are still there to this day, and earned him respect within the industry at a very early age. Oscar was at Uptown MCA from 1991-1994. This was an incredible stepping stone to the start of his career. The experience and the friendships formed provided him with the opportunity to work with the greats, like Sean Puffy Combs AKA P. Diddy.

Late in 1994 the opportunity arose for Oscar to work at “Rap-A-Lot Records”. At “Rap-A-Lot”, Oscar worked on taking the “Ghetto Boys” album “Uncut Dope, Till Death Do Us Part” to the top of the charts. He also worked on promoting the “5th Ward Boyz” album “Ghetto Dope” and one of Hip Hop’s iconic stars “Scarface” and his album “The World Is Yours”. That album was a strong seller and went top 10 on the Billboard charts as a direct result of Oscar’s team and his hard work.

Later in the ’90s Oscar made the move to return to his home roots in Atlanta, Georgia. From here, he set up his home consulting business in the music industry, focusing on promoting artists and breaking acts through the major label system. During this time, Oscar worked on many great albums, promoting them to the greater North American music markets, including working with record labels like Laface Records, SoSo Def, Rowdy Records, and Noontime Records. Oscar has been a vital and instrumental cog in the development of these labels, their artist rosters, and the success that they enjoyed during the explosive growth years for the Rap and Hip Hop scene in North America.

Oscar’s passion for music did not just stop at his super marketing and sales skills. In the late ’90s, Oscar wanted to get hands on engineering skills, and that’s when he decided to intern at Darp Studios under Dallas Austin. His work ethic is “can do”, and there are no problems in Oscar’s world, only solutions that need to be found.

As Oscar says: “If you are not asking the right questions, then how can you get the right answers? Treat people with respect and soon enough it follows you, and you can build a name, a name and a meaning to the saying ‘my word is my bond’ – and that’s been the secret to my success. Say what you mean and do what you say. It is that simple.”

While working hard in the studio caves, Oscar learnt his craft fast from working with great engineers like Leslie Brathwaite, and by working at studios like Dopplers Studio and Stankonia Studio, working under John Fryer. In the later part of 2010, Oscar decided to focus on developing his marketing and promotional resources, and to build his promotions and marketing teams to help take on the new digital landscape.

As Oscar says: “The music world has changed and if you do not adapt you will find yourself out of work.”

Oscar has watched the world of Hip Hop change so radically, and the income streams that were once the life blood of the industry from vinyl to physical CD products vanish before our eyes. It is a digital world now, and a world that requires new production methods to generate income for artists. With this in mind, in 2012, Oscar started a mentoring program to help guide and develop new artists, and to show them that the world of the entertainment industry for emerging music artists means hard work, and the development of a show that people will come back and see time and time again.

As Oscar says: “The industry is called the Entertainment Industry, and that means you have to entertain and you need to be able to do it live if you want to have a chance to have a career in the new millennium music industry. If not, then this will be a hobby for the artist and that’s ok. Today we need to understand that the industry produces music in quantities that have never before existed, and not much of it is great. Great music always finds its way to radio and onto the charts, because it is great. There is a reason why great albums are great, and that’s because people invested into the recording of the music, the musicians that played on the recording, and into the marketing and promotion of the record. Today more than ever, artists need to have their focus on the production standard, and to focus on being able to entertain.”

Nowadays, Oscar divides his time between teaching children to focus on developing their musical craft, performing live shows, and scouting new talent for the rosters of Blue Pie Records and DJ Central Records. He owns and operates a very successful marketing and promotions business, working with many of the iconic artists of today, including The East Side Boyz, Ne-Yo, Young Jeezy, Trey Songz, and Avant to name a few. During his duties for Blue Pie and DJ Central, Oscar acts as our North American correspondent and representative in Detroit, and works directly with our top list Hip Hop acts. He is the A & R Director for both of these partner companies, and works in talent development for artists, and business development for labels and catalogue. When working with Ordior, the close partner company to Blue Pie and DJ Central, he works in the Business Development North America department. Overall, Oscar is a highly accomplished and versatile music industry professional, who is dedicated to mentoring and promoting emerging artists, as well as collaborating with established icons to bring their music to new heights.

For more information on Oscar, or to contact Oscar, please see the links below.

Oscar “Ovaflow” Clemons
A & R Director | Urban and Hip Hop – North America – Blue Pie Records USA
A & R Director Urban and Hip Hop – North America – DJ Central Records USA
w: www.hiphopcentraltv.com
w: www.bluepie.com.au
w: www.djcentralrecords.com
e: hiphopcentraltv@gmail.com