Tunji Balogun, Nigerian music executive, to join Def Jam as CEO

Tunji Balogun, executive vice president of A&R at RCA, has left the music label to join Def Jam Records as CEO.

According to Variety, Balogun was hired by Def Jam after the music giant named Nicki Farag, a promotion veteran, as its executive VP and general manager.

Balogun’s exit from RCA comes on the heels of the appointment of Columbia Records’ Imran Majid and Justin Eshak as co-CEOs of UMG’s Island Records in a deal to take effect from January 2022.

RCA hosts musicians of global repute like Wizkid and Chris Brown while Def Jam boasts of hitmakers such as BTS, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Kanye West.

Balogun joined RCA in 2015 after working seven-and-a-half years at Interscope. The A&R executive was involved in the signing of musicians like Khalid, Brockhampton, Normani, and Bryson Tiller.

In 2018, Balogun co-founded the label Keep Cool, a joint venture with RCA, alongside Courtney Stewart, Jon Tanners, and Jared Sherman. He was elevated to EVP that year.

As Def Jam CEO, Balogun will succeed Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager, who joined the label in 2018 and left two years later to remain president of Shady Records, Eminem’s joint venture with UMG’s Interscope Geffen A&M.