- Okay.
This is such a dope room, an incredible room.
I wanna thank Deanna and Hannah
and my sister Gail Mitchel
for a, creating a safe space for all of us
to be acknowledged and recognized,
it's interesting because this night
has become one of the most important nights in music
because women make this whole shit work.
I think you all know that.
Before I introduce this artist
that I'm so incredibly proud of
I wanna take a moment to talk about sisterhood.
About five years ago I was promoted
to being the president of Motown Records,
the legendary label with the huge legacy.
Over ten years ago I was a young music publisher
making a name for myself in this game.
But operating from a place of love and passion
for storytelling, songwriters, producers
and the development of artists.
And I met a young director, a music video director
by the name of Melina Matsoukas.
Melina and I saw each other,
Melina and I saw each other.
Back then,
and when I stepped into this role at Motown five years ago,
twice a week there were dinner meetings at Matsuhisa
as we talked about the challenges,
the challenges and our dreams of making it
in this entertainment industry.
Cut to 2019,
May of 2019.
My girl has shot her first debut film,
called Queen and Slim.
(audience clapping)
A black love story, a black love story.
A black love story.
Taken place in today's society.
This film came out a few weeks ago,
when my sister called me and she said,
I've done my film, I'm ready to go,
we need to have an incredible soundtrack.
I trust you, you understand and you see me.
Melina and I, along with Lena Weithe,
who wrote this incredible film,
executive produced an incredible soundtrack
that not only introduces you to new talent
but also tells a story in itself.
In its accompaniment to,
a triggering and provoking film
that allows you to see us
and love us, understand us and talk about us.
I wanna thank Melina and Lena for trusting us at Motown.
I wanna thank my team at Motown.
Specifically Lindsay Linear,
my vice president of ANR who busted her ass
through this process.
Brittany Davis who busted her ass on marketing this.
This is what synergy looks like,
this is what love looks like,
this is what sisterhood looks like.
Capital Music Group, Universal Music Group
for supporting us along the way.
Melina and I were at dinner and we said,
we wanna give you that shit that reminds you
of what the Love Jones soundtrack was.
What the Love and Basketball soundtrack was.
And we did it for us and by us.
And it's beautiful because we are able to be in this room,
loving and accepting, us.
So thank you for that.
In addition to telling the story of,
black music with the soundtrack,
you get everything from Roy Ayres to Megan Thee Stallion.
You get Ms Lauryn Hill who gives you a new song
that we have not heard from her in years.
And you get new talent, that was a goal for us.
To introduce new talent.
Motown, a label that believes in breaking black artists
and connecting people around the world.
It's a pop label, we connected people.
It happened 60 years ago as we celebrate
our 60th anniversary for Motown this year.
And there have been so many other black entrepreneurs
that have operated in the same spirit
of what Mr Gordy created then.
So I wanna thank my brothers
who have supported us through this process.
Coach K, I Know you bought out several theaters
as we supported this film and this soundtrack.
QC Roc Nation, led by a dope-ass woman,
congratulations Desire.
I wanna thank all the women that have supported us
and leaned into what this was.
There was a bigger purpose and intention behind it.
We've been breaking new talent,
we've been supporting other entrepreneurs
over this five year tenure for me.
I have the pleasure of introducing one of them.