LP Records is an award wining record label in the Virgin Islands .  Their roster includes the prominent Apostle, a successful solo artist with several hit singles and top selling albums.  Apart from managing a VI music veteran and rising legend, LP Records produced the well renowned compilation CD Island Heat (Vol. I & II).  CORE spoke with Alvin “Alico” Marks Jr., Co-CEO and Co-Founder of LP Records at his Lava House studio on St. Thomas to find out how this VI music industry giant began.

CORE:  How did you get started in the recording industry?

Alico:  I started out as a DJ.  I remember we use to have these jams every Saturday and we would rotate through the various basketball courts on the island. We would just play music, sell food and sell drinks.  A lot of artists use to come out to freestyle on the mic, so from the jump I had a good relationship with man like Pressure, Niyorah and JAHman. However it was my daughter’s mother who actually introduced me to De Apostle in 1998.  He was performing on St. Thomas for a show with Army and Jamband.    At the time the studio wasn’t even finish, it was just a mixing board and a cassette recorder; but we just kept in touch, did a lot of recordings and together we formed LP Records.  He was the first artist to sign to the label so he has a lot of foundation musically in the whole LP movement. 

CORE:  Apart from Apostle how do you go about selecting artists for development deals?

Alico:  We look for inner talent; someone with a naturally good sound who also has ambition. We want that eat, sleep, and breathe music mentality. For example, Fari is a new artist of ours who is very in tune with his music and he has ambition.  He has the image and the sound you need in order to have an international appeal.  So we have him in development right now from photo shoots and recordings to exercising.

CORE:  You mention exercising as part of the development of an artist.  How important is the image?

Alico:  I think it depends on the artist; he has to want a certain result.  As an artist you want your look to match your sound.  I see it as professionalism.

CORE:  What advice would you give to a new record label executive?

Alico:  First thing, learn the business this is very important.  Read the books, take notes and take advantage of getting as much hands on experience as possible.  James Anderson taught me a lot of the basics and I am still grateful to this day for that.  Also this has to really be your desire.

CORE:  What’s next for LP?

Alico:  Well you know Apostle has his new album out “King of the VI” but apart from that we just want to see all our goals being met.  Overall we hope to do a lot for the entire VI community; its going to take a lot of hard work to do it but, its possible if we keep God first and stay out of trouble.  I’ve been through my share and I’ve seen a lot of things; surviving all of that is inspiring, it makes every accomplishment worth more.  We have the Local Power Hour on the radio right now but probably in the future you will see LP TV!  Through it all my belief will always be Home is first.  We just want to represent where we are from and make sure it benefits everyone involved.