THE STORYTELLING MISSIONARY

MUSICIANS DIP into the movie industry all the time; the opposite is far more rare. But for filmmaker Lena Waithe, who grew up on Nineties R&B and counts Erykah Badu, Brandy, and Prince among her idols, the two businesses are an obvious pairing. Waithe — an Emmy-winning screenwriter, actor, and co-creator of shows including Master of None, The Chi, and Them, all of which have been noticed for their thoughtful music choices — just announced a record label, Hillman Grad Records, which will be run under a joint venture with Def Jam. “I think people really started to pick up on the music choices in the film or TV that I was doing, and that really spoke to me,” says Waithe.

Hillman Grad Records is “circling some people” but isn’t ready to announce signings yet. Waithe emphasizes that it’s “important for artist storytelling to be brought back” — an element of music-making that’s taken a back seat to virality chases and data-driven dealmaking in recent years. She points to Lil Nas X, Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, H.E.R., and Miguel as artists who’ve seduced audiences with their life stories as well as their music. “My brain also thinks visually, so I go, ‘Oh, what if we do this for the video, the performance?’ I would approach the music like I would a TV show — ‘What can we do to make sure it hits in a different way?’”

To Waithe, there’s already one conspicuous point of similarity between film and music: Both industries are grappling with long-held racial and gender imbalances. Waithe, a vocal advocate of social change across entertainment industries, wants Hillman Grad Records to help topple the status quo: “The artists, the people in the front, are often those people who are othered. It’s about who’s in the back office, or cutting checks, or having the green-light power. There’s a lot of us that need to be in those rooms.”