Opening the conversation for ‘The Lost Art of A&R Pt.2’ at #RMC2015 pic.twitter.com/AqBSXdkyIz

— REVOLT TV (@RevoltTV) October 16, 2015

Next up after the Content panel came “The Lost Art of A&R” panel, which featured the A&R’s of some of the biggest record labels. The panelists included NO ID, EVP of A&R at Def Jam Records, Sickamore, Vice President of A&R and Creative Director at Epic Records, Tunji Balogun, Sr. Director of A&R at RCA Records, Dallas Martin, SVP of A&R at Atlantic Records, Noah Preston, VP of A&R at Def Jam, Breyon Prescott, EVP of A&R and Head of Urban A&R at Epic Records, and was moderated by music artist, Kenna. The guys immediately dove into some essential topics regarding artist discovery and creating the best content through a label. The guys also discussed how hard it is to get noticed in today’s day and age as a talented artist, which Sickamore expressed his disagreement with. “I think it’s the most magical time to be an artist. I think it’s the best time ever to get your music heard,” he shares with the crowd.

They all also spoke on the fact that there is much more to being an A&R than simply finding artists to sign to a label. “We build champions that are fighting for their vision,” explained Tunji Balogun. “Another process that goes into an artist is teaching them what an artist is,” he commented. Dallas Martin also caught the attention of the crowd when he explained that the goals of an A&R are to build the artist, set goals for them in the studio, and to use every dime spent on them very wisely.

While many gems were shared, one of the realest moments of the panel came during the Q&A portion of the time slot. At this point, many audience members weren’t aware of it, but Diddy, himself, was sitting in the crowd, listening to the panel. He would have gone unnoticed if it hadn’t been for a question from an audience member who asked, “What happened to New York?” Immediately Diddy got up, crashed the panel stage, and spoke on his thoughts, stating, “What happened to New York was…we lost our soul.” Although the panel could have ended on this note, another highlight came as one of the audience members took hold of the Q&A microphone, started rapping, and even crashed the stage of the panel to perform. Despite the dismay of the audience, who met him with boo’s, Puff Daddy gave him a standing ovation, and even a dap up for his bravery. It looks like the music conference is completely sticking to the music.