Black Hand is the label, Black Hand is the gang. Black Hand has a long history dating back to the 70's. It began in the maximum security section of a prison as a concept to promote unity, loyalty, and honor. Eventually, one of the founders, Chaz, entered into the music business as a promoter in 1989, he incorporated and trademarked the Black Hand name and logo. Following a sucessful and profitable run as a promoter, Chaz stepped his game up and got into artist management and opened his own studio in Jamaica, Queens, NY. One of his first management clients was 50 Cent. This was post Jam Master Jay, but during the highly publicized events just prior to 50 Cent's injuries. In 1999, Black Hand released a soundtrack complilation independently, titled Black Gangster which featured some of the hottest artist then and now. It had Jay Z, DMX, Ja Rule, 50 Cent, Donnel Jones, Mac Dre, and others. It is a classic, and the only album to be found where both 50 Cent and Ja Rule appeared and both knew and agreed to be on. The album sold independently without radio play or a video, and did a little above 100,000 units. It soundscaned around 58,000, another 20,000 was sold on the street and in unconventional retail outlets, and another 30,000 sold in multiple territories overseas. While not bad revenue for a first project, Black Hand had just recieved a teaser of record sale revenue and wanted to build upon that. Through a family connection, Grafh became Black Hand's flagship artist, and sticking with family ties, Prinz has began to step his awareness game up. The Black Hand Chain Gang is next up. Stay tuned as the saga continues!
