was renamed Uptown Enterprises. By 1993, it was the leading urban label. In February 1993, the MTV Unplugged live, acoustic series featured Jodeci, Father MC, Mary J. Blige, Christopher Williams, and Heavy D, resulting in release of Uptown Unplugged as both album and home video. A resulting single, Jodeci's live cover of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" peaked at #1 on the R&B chart and #4 on the pop singles chart, the Billboard Hot 100. Later in 1993, Uptown released the soundtrack to the hip-hop film Who's the Man?. Closing 1993, Uptown released Jodeci's second album, Diary of a Mad Band. Decline In July 1993, amid issues with Harrell, Uptown fired Combs. Within two weeks, he launched his own label, Bad Boy, while taking with him The Notorious B.I.G. Uptown promptly suffered, yet Combs still executive produced Mary J. Blige's second album, My Life, released at December 1994, soon certified 3x Multi-Platinum in the U.S. Increasingly dissatisfied, Mary J. Blige and Jodeci both signed to West Coast Management, the firm of Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row, based in Los Angeles. Thus, they gained double the royalty rates, more creative control, and sizable back payments. Meanwhile, the final Heavy D & The Boyz album, Nuttin' But Love, was released in 1994, and soon certified Platinum in the U.S. In 1995, Uptown's new R&B group Soul for Real's debut album Candy Rain was released, as was Jodeci's third and final studio album for Uptown Records, The Show, the After Party, the Hotel. Later in 1995, Harrell left Uptown to become CEO of Motown Records, while Heavy D, executive vice president of Uptown, became Uptown's president and CEO. Prominent acts like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci signed directly to Uptown's distribution label, MCA. By 1996, MCA along with Universal Studios, the filmmaking house, was bought by the owners of Seagram's, and became Universal Music Group. In 1997, Heavy D resigned as CEO of Uptown, absorbed into Universal Music during 1999. In December 2019, television network BET announced production of a miniseries on the history of Uptown Records. Present day As of 1999, the label was thought to be defunct. However in 2022, Ciara announced that she had signed a deal with Uptown Records via Republic Records, which would see the label assist in distributing her eight studio album. Current artists Ciara (distribution/partnership deal with Republic) Coi Leray (Uptown/Republic) Flo (Island/Uptown/Republic) Former artists References External