Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) today announced that Mark Cheatham and Joe Hadley have been elevated to Co-Heads of the agency’s global Hip-Hop/R&B touring group.
Personally representing many of the most prolific, celebrated, and culturally relevant artists in the business, Cheatham and Hadley have also helped build out the agency’s broader roster of high-profile figures in hip-hop and R&B, including breaking talent in the U.S. and around the world.
CAA’s Hip-Hop/R&B team has 14 agents servicing clients, including specialists in touring, brand partnerships and cross-over opportunities. Its diverse roster of talent includes Beyoncé, Kanye West, Cardi B, A$AP Rocky, Lil Baby, Miguel, H.E.R., Logic, Lil Nas X, Q-TIP, Doja Cat, Lil Wayne, Playboi Carti, Wu-Tang Clan, and many other leading artists.
“Mark and Joe are extraordinary leaders – gifted, inspiring agents who care deeply about their colleagues and invest in helping those around them succeed,” said CAA Co-Head of Contemporary Music Darryl Eaton. “Their intense drive combined with their profound understanding of where the business is heading will help ensure CAA remains the leading home for world-class hip-hop and R&B artists.”
Cheatham, who represents Cardi B., A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Lil Baby, Saweetie, Brandy, Kem, and Anthony Hamilton, among many others, said, “As the global power and influence of hip-hop and R&B music grows to ever-higher levels, so too does the passion and privilege to work beside the incredible artists behind the music. Our team is the very best in the business, and I’m thrilled to work alongside Joe to help map its future.”
“CAA’s unique and deeply collaborative culture within the touring department, and across the agency, makes anything possible for clients,” said Hadley, who represents clients including A$AP Rocky, Beyoncé, Anuel AA, Jorja Smith, and Miguel, among others. “In that environment, with so much access and so many resources, you get energized every day – by your teammates, by incredible partners like Mark, and by the endless opportunities for client success.”
The Los Angeles-based Cheatham, who joined CAA in 2008, began his career in the mailroom at Associated Booking Corporation and has held positions at ICM, Norby Walter Agency and the William Morris Agency. He graduated from Southern Illinois University.
Hadley, also based in Los Angeles, joined CAA in 2016 and has played a leadership role in the agency’s ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including helping to organize a virtual CAA Amplify Town Hall focused on dismantling systemic racism, which was attended by more than 9,000 people.
He also developed the CAA Quarantine Speakers Series that invites agency employees to learn from top voices in the music industry, from labels and management firms, to attorneys and journalists. Hadley has also served as an advisor for Global Citizen, the organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty.
He has traveled with the organization to Nigeria and Ghana to help produce the organization’s Global Goal Live campaign to rally governments, corporations and philanthropists to commit funding to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Hadley began his career at The Windish Agency after attending California Lutheran University.
