Joie Manda Leaves Def Jam / Heads To Interscope

He’s the label executive Frank Ocean, Elijah Blake, Nas and Rick Ross all consider the driving force behind their recent successes.

However, despite his outstanding year as the head of the Def Jam music group, Joie Manda has resigned from his role as the label’s President and is now on his way to Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope Records.

Details below…

The first President of the label since Jay Z’s departure from the label, Joie said of his departure:

“Despite having to move back to Los Angeles for personal reasons, I am truly grateful to Barry, John and Jimmy Iovine for this exciting new opportunity. I’ve learned a lot from Barry in the last year and am very appreciative of everything he has done for me. I am now looking forward to being part of the Interscope family, a company uniquely positioned for success despite this challenging marketplace.“

No doubt a shocking blow to any aware of the success he garnered while at DJ (see ‘Channel Orange‘, ‘Bijoux 22′ and ‘God Forgives‘) Manda will now serve as Interscope’s President of Urban Music. A role, which will see him end his time at Def Jam today and start at Interscope on Monday- bidding adieu to Barry Weiss to report to John Janick.

On his time there, Manda revealed that the highlight of the experience came via Frank Ocean and the openness surrounding his sexuality. Speaking to Billboard Biz, he shared:

“…talking about his sexuality in such a brave way, and us rallying around him as a company, I’m excited to work with an artist who broke barriers.”

Here’s hoping Joie’s time at Interscope is just as fruitful as his tenure of Def Jam was.

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