Meet The Ambitious Founder Of Greensboro’s 1891 Hot 10

Cornell Mapp Is Helping Put North Carolina Artists On The…Map 🙂

If there is one thing we know about the music industry, it’s that TODAY’S MOVERS AND SHAKERS ARE OFTEN TOMORROW’S MAVENS AND MOGULS. In our latest feature at INSIDE Monthly, we introduce you to Cornell Mapp who is the founder of 1891 Hot 10. Born and raised in Inglewood, CA, Mapp played basketball, excelled in history and studied karate as a teenager. After high school, he moved to Greensboro, NC to attend North Carolina A&T, which is the largest historically black college and university (HBCU) in the country. Fresh off of a summer internship with Universal Music Group (UMG) to further his knowledge about the business of music, Cornell Mapp is making all the right moves on campus and around the city.

Which Music Moguls Do You Admire The Most?

Rest in peace (RIP) Tupac and Biggie of course. I do look up to P Diddy a lot because I’m trying to follow in his footsteps a little bit. Of course Lil Wayne, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar. Nipsey Hussle. Period on Nipsey Hussle. That’s just like the L.A. Legend. Everybody wants to be like Nipsey. Those are my top ones for sure.

When Did You Decide To Start A Record Label?

April of 2021. That was when my dad came down [to Greensboro, NC] and I was just flooded with ideas that I wanted to get out. I was just telling him that there are a lot of people making music but nobody had a platform for them. Back then, I didn’t even want to start a record label. I just wanted to come out with an album with everybody on it. That was the original idea that stemmed to a record label and everything we are doing now. When people were fresh making music and fresh getting their names out there on campus is when I was really trying to start the record label.

How Did You Come Up With The Name For 1891 Hot 10?

It took a minute to come up with the name. I really wanted to tie it in with the school a little bit but not make it corny. I talked to a few people and some of them told me “1891…just keep that…1891”. I thought, “ah…okay….but we need something else because 1891 is just a number”. So I thought we should have 10 artists so we added the number 10 on there. And to make it simple and clean and also roll off people’s tongue, we eventually ended up with 1891 Hot 10. I sat on it for a few days and couldn’t think of anything better so I was like 1891 Hot 10…Let’s Do It.

Cornell Mapp Describing How He Eventually Settled On The Name 1891 Hot 10 For His Record Label

How Did You Build A Team And What Is Your Vision?

I built the team through trial and error. When we first started, it was hard to get people on board just because there was no money involved. The people didn’t really believe it in as much as they do now. So I brought on anybody that I knew that wanted to make a name for themselves in the music industry or just a name for themselves in general. I got them merged with what we were doing and got them on board by taking them to a couple of meetings. It really just started with the two other founders that I hopped on with and from then on we just expanded little by little.

What’s Been The Biggest Challenge For You So Far?

The biggest challenge has been not having people take it as a joke. That’s long going. That was a challenge that I have had since I first started it. Another challenge is just gaining followers. You know? It’s a record label. It’s not a clothing brand or something that is easy to gain followers on. It’s kind of hard because we constantly have to find content to put out there. We can’t just post pictures of [the clothes] we have on. We have to find new ideas. Fresh ideas to get content. So that was one of the most challenging things I had to overcome. And then lastly, I messed up my first couple showcases. It was bad. You know? I messed up and lost money. I lost a couple or believers but after we figured out, it was over with!

Tell Us About Your Artists And Why They Are Unique.

We’re all from different places. You know? That’s what makes the record label so unique. We have people from North Carolina. We have people from L.A. [Los Angeles, CA]. We have people from New Jersey. Just a bunch of different places around the United States that all came to North Carolina A&T and who make music. Their music resembles where they’re from and that’s what makes everybody unique. We got females. We got males. We got rappers. We got singers. We got R&B artists. We got the chill artists. We got the trap artists. We got everybody.