Today, Arista Records announces the promotion of their Co-Heads of Urban Music, Kendell “Sav” Freeman and Khris Riddick-Tynes, to Senior Vice President, A&R.
Freeman and Riddick-Tynes will continue to operate out of the NY and LA offices respectively and report to David Massey, President.
The pair were first named Vice Presidents and Co-Heads of Urban Music in 2021 and have since had a run of success across the roster including the signing and continued development of “Brooklyn Rap’s new torchbearer” (Rolling Stone) Lola Brooke and up-and-comer Hurri Haran.
Riddick-Tynes continues to work across the now Platinum-selling Paul Russell as well as alt-pop breakout UPSAHL and genre-defying Korean-American Audrey Nuna, all of whom will see releases this summer.
Following the signing of now platinum-selling Lola Brooke, Freeman has also added his joint-venture label Saint Kash to the Arista umbrella and kicked operations off with the signing of Cincinnati sensation Skylar Blatt.
The female rapper is currently climbing the Rhythm radio chart with “Wake Up,” her new trending single featuring Chris Brown. In their new roles, they will continue to focus on further expanding and strengthening Arista’s global roster.
On their promotion, Massey says “We are excited for Sav and Khris to begin this next chapter in further elevating our artists around the world.
They have played an integral part in helping build and develop an impressive roster here at Arista including Platinum-selling Lola Brooke, rapidly rising Skylar Blatt and the artist development story of Audrey Nuna, and we look forward to their continued leadership.”
Before joining the Arista team, Freeman held positions at Maybach Music Group via WMG, Def Jam and Standing Room Only MGMT where he repped multiplatinum artist Flipp Dinero.
Riddick-Tynes is best known as a GRAMMY-winning producer, most recently for his work on SZA’S “Snooze” in addition to his work with Ariana Grande, Drake, Lil Baby, Chris Brown and Rick Ross.