Darcus Beese has spoken to Music Week about what happened when he swapped the UK for America and took the role of president of Island Records US in 2018.
Beese, who returned home to take on the dual role of EVP, WMUK and president of JV record label Darco Recordings in 2021, is preparing to release his autobiography Rebel With A Cause later this month, and spoke in depth to Music Week about his illustrious career.
“It felt like I’d reached my limit in terms of success, nothing was going to top what I was doing at the time and if that was the case, then there had to be a changing of the guard,” said Beese, who won The Strat at the Music Week Awards in 2019. “The opportunity of America came at the right time, but it kicked in another 10 gears of what being an executive is and how my diary just blew up to the point of unsustainability.”
Reflecting further on his time in the States, Beese said that it turned “toxic”.
“I loved my first year in America but as soon as Covid hit, and we were amid the last election, America just got too toxic,” he said. “Being a CEO, Black and separated from my daughter who was still in the UK… The cops are still killing Black people with impunity even after George Floyd. There were a couple of instances that let me know that despite my success, I’m still Black in America.”
I loved my first year in America but as soon as Covid hit, and we were amid the last election, America just got too toxic
Darcus Beese
Beese told Music Week that he was diagnosed with ADHD halfway through writing his book.
“[America] became hard and tiring, my ADHD was exacerbated, and I was unknowingly depressed,” he said. “Since I’ve come back, been diagnosed and started therapy, I’ve become less of an obstacle to myself. It’s given me a lot more understanding of my story.”
Beese also admitted that he felt some regret about leaving the UK behind.
“Yes, only for the effect it had on my family,” he said. “Whether it was me being selfish saying we’re going over there, or me being selfish saying we were coming back. I didn’t realise the emotional toll it would take. I both would and wouldn’t go again, but I’d have a better understanding of myself if I did.”
Expanding on the subject of mental health, the executive said his diagnosis had changed his outlook in several ways.
“I always knew I was wired differently and that was the lightning bolt that confirmed it,” he explained. “I had to rewrite the book from this new perspective, thinking back not just to work but to times with family and in school, where I was given all these labels and was very misunderstood, as many young Black men are. Reading the book back was a challenge. Dealing with my mum reading it, my family. I needed to make sure it was framed in the right way and was truthful.”
On the subject of whether it made him see the past in a different light he said, “It made me reassess my presence within my family”.
I realised I had no patience at work, could go from zero to 100 very quickly and push the nuclear button before counting to 10
Darcus Beese
“I thought I was present, but I really wasn’t, and that’s through the ADHD lens, being ultra-focused and able to shut everything out,” Beese said. “I realised I had no patience at work, could go from zero to 100 very quickly and push the nuclear button before counting to 10. I could always move with such intensity and I would question those who couldn’t.”
Beese said he “had no issue having a roster where eight acts are making records at the same time”.
“I could jump from room to room, from genre to genre, jump on the plane, have a meeting in LA and come back on the same day,” he said. “Not everyone runs at that speed. Once I got diagnosed, I was almost apologetic to people. Now that I understand this about myself and have calmed down in a sense, I’d say I’ve completely changed.”
Looking to the future, Beese weighed up his position in today’s industry and discussed where he might like to go next.
“I want to be in partnership with artists and not just in the record business,” he said. “What if an artist puts everything in the pot – brand money, live money, publishing, records – and we just invest? I just want to be more entrepreneurial and across all of the different verticals.”
We also quizzed Beese on a number of the issues that are front and centre in the business at the moment.
On the subject of AI, he offered a positive outlook.
“I think once legislation and best practice comes into effect, a lot of goodness can come from it,” said Beese. “But in the meantime, what do you do? You experiment with it. Right now, we’re probably in beta mode with AI. I completely get the threat of infringing on people’s image and music and that needs to be protected. But if you can keep the human in the room, if you can keep the soul in the room, then it should be an added tool.”
Beese also had his say on this year’s beef between his former charge Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
“Drake’s my guy, and I loved when they were going at it in the very first instance, and then Not Like Us dropped,” he said. “I love Kendrick as well, that track on every level is amazing. [The beef] was a burst of excitement that we don’t have enough of, it just woke people up. I love that it became this water-cooler moment. When people ask if there are still ‘moments’ in music, you point to things like this.”
Subscribers can read the full interview in the latest issue of Music Week – or find it online here.
PHOTO: Shane O'Neill
