TUFF BREAK RECORDS
A&M Records employee Evan Forster established Tuff Break Records in 1992 with his brothers Jonnie and Darren Forster. Tuff Break was A&M Records rap music imprint. The association was dissolved in February 1995. Tuff Break was to create music discs, cassettes and videos. According to Billboard, the label had the "aim of avoiding morally, politically or socially offending productions."
The first two releases by Tragedy and Dred Scott were #1 on Billboard. By November 1993, the label had four artists and hoped to release five to seven recordings per year.
A&M Records handled commercial radio promotion while Perspective Records promoted Tuff Break product in the R&B market.
On February 11, 1995, Billboard reported that A&M would close Tuff Break because it was "disappointed with the label's inability to generate the same kind of success A&M has with its pop and alternative acts." At the time A&M discontinued the label, it had released seven 12-inch singles, one commercial album and one promotional album Sip the Juice, We Got Enough to Go Around. This album featured the Tuff Break artist roster plus newcomers Tasc4orce, and Fourtie, artists who did not have commercial singles with Tuff Break.
SOURCES:
Rappers Getting a Tuff Break at A&M. Billboard, November 6, 1993.
A&M Records' 10th and 15th anniversary books
Billboard magazine articles
A&M Records employees
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