Sickamore resigns as Atlantic Records? Director of A&R

In a new entry on his blog, Thank God I’m Famous, Sickamore revealed that yesterday was his last day in the office as Atlantic Records’ Director of A&R.
Assuring that he didn’t leave Atlantic for another job and that he wasn’t fired, he says that he “lost faith in the major label system.”

In the blog, Sickamore talks about how his fellow staffers at Atlantic made it a smooth transition for his entry into the company, even though personal friend and fellow Atlantic Senior Vice President of A&R Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua left his post at the label only a couple months after Sickamore’s hiring. Though he was grateful for the signing power and the freedom to scour the country for talent, he was frustrated with situations like those of rapper Saigon, who signed to the label years ago and still hasn’t seen a release date for his album, the ironically-titled The Greatest Story Never Told. “I'm not going to sign talented people to a label and have them sit,” Sickamore said. “I rather bet on myself and get them hot in the streets.”

Sickamore has been in the music business since he was a teen, when he sold custom mixtapes to high school classmates and opened up his own record store in Brooklyn. As his mixtape hustle expanded, he started landing freelance A&R jobs at different record labels. Sickamore joined Atlantic in December 2006, when Joshua brought him onboard after recognizing his hustler mentality and his knowledge of the business.
Sickamore says the Atlantic job will probably be his last formal gig, but that he’ll “continue to consult for Atlantic, Asylum Records, [and] Columbia Records as well as continuing to help the artists I've signed like Wynter Gordon, Slim of 112 and of course Saigon.” He’s also focusing on his work through his company, The Famous Firm.