Vince free from Def Jam and signed to ???

Source: PYMCA / Getty Besides a back and forth Twitter spat with Azealia Banks, Vince Staples has been relatively quiet. However, it’s been announced that the Long Beach rapper is now signed to Motown Records, and he’s dropping new music soon. For most of his career, the “Norf Nor” rapper was signed to Def Jam via Blacksmith Recordings. Billboard reports that at Capitol Music Group’s annual meeting it was revealed that Blacksmith Recordings (owned by artist manager Corey Smyth) has moved over to the Capitol Music Group and Motown Records. “Today, more than ever, artists are evolving their professional identities in multi-faceted ways,” said Smyth in a statement. “My mission through Blacksmith Recordings is to nurture young and new talent from the ground up and enable them to expand their vision of success. We are looking at the big picture, thinking about how a musician evolves across genres, what success looks like in the first year and a decade later and what happens after the first album, the second and the third. Our goal is to reinforce career longevity and boundless potential in the artists we represent, while growing global brands around them.” Besides Staples, other acts on Blacksmith include Kilo Kish, Ted When and Benn Good. Smith reportedly is prepping to drop new music in the fourth quarter. Staples’ last album, FM!, dropped in late 2018.