Business of HYPE is a weekly series brought to you by HYPEBEAST Radio and hosted by jeffstaple. It’s a show about creatives, brand-builders and entrepreneurs and the realities behind the dreams they’ve built. On today’s episode, Jeff sits down with music mogul Kevin Liles.

The music industry titan started as an intern in 1991 at Def Jam and rose to be president in 1998. Alongside Lyor Cohen and Todd Moscowitz, Liles helped the label turn into the juggernaut that it is today and was behind the rise of huge stars such as JAY-Z and DMX. He, alongside Cohen and Moscowitz, left for Warner Music Group in 2004, and in 2009, Liles left to form KWL Management, representing huge names such as D’Angelo, Trey Songz and Mariah Carey.

In November 2013, Liles, Cohen, Moscowitz and Roger Gold founded 300 Entertainment and had a run of success with artists such as Fetty Wap, Young Thug and Migos. Most recently, following the departure of Cohen to YouTube and Moscowitz to Universal Music Group, Liles remains as the sole CEO of 300 and continues to lead the label to a strong future.

On this episode, Kevin opens up about hip-hop’s entrepreneurial spirit, protecting the art, maintaining an intern mindset, finding purpose in your work, mentoring and so much more.

As always, thank you for tuning into HYPEBEAST Radio and Business of HYPE. You can subscribe to our channel on Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Overcast, Anchor or wherever else you get your podcasts. Please don’t forget to leave a comment or review.

Additionally, feel free to hit Jeff on Twitter, @jeffstaple, or via email at questions@businessofhype.com, and he may answer your question on a future episode.