When you think of the evolution of the music coming out of Houston, a few names should come to mind. D.Flowers, DeeBaby, and YB Puerto Rico.
D. Flowers, the neighborhood hero with such a passionate voice, expresses pain in every lyric.
DeeBaby, the introverted emcee that uses his music as ventilation, has a shot at being the face of American-Mexican hip-hop.
And YB Puerto Rico is probably the most determined hip-hop artist in Houston.
One reason why these are familiar names in H-Town is because of their relentless work ethic. Another reason why you hear these names is because of who’s backing them.
Each of these rising artists is in their own lane but is on the same label, Black Diamond Entertainment.
Black Diamond Entertainment, founded by Sina Athari in 2018, has become one of the hottest-fastest growing record labels in Houston, and it’s all because of the foundation laid out by Athari.
Athari, from the central part of Houston, is a man with a vision. His vision is to bring the entire city of Houston together, which he’s doing by executive producing the Be Someone HoUSton mixtapes, and he wants to take his artists to new heights, which he’s also doing.
“It was always a part of the blueprint for me to start with three prominent artists on the label,” he said. “It fortunate that the three initial artists who I reached out to, are the ones that I’m working with now.”
In 2018, Athari had just gotten out of a management situation with Haroldlujah, another Houston artist, and although that situation ended, another situation started. People noticed how Sina helped popularize Haroldujah’s career and wanted to be a part of it, but this go round Sina didn’t want to manage- he wanted to sign artists to his newly founded record label & build from the ground up. Before you knew it, that’s what he began to do. Although it’s happening fast, it didn’t come easy.
“It took a lot of trial and error,” Athari emphasized. “I think the most important thing in this industry is that you need the financial freedom to figure out where to take certain risks and where to put the money. You need resources & relationships to succeed in this industry. Once I established that I started pitching my vision and my vision became a reality.”
It started with DeeBaby.
“Before I had a name for the label, I had already signed DeeBaby,” Athari said. “He told me to come up with the name and I chose Black Diamond because it signifies unity. It signifies unconditional love and it signifies talent at the highest level.”
Once DeeBaby believed in Athari and Black Diamond that led to the signing of D.Flowers and Puerto Rico.
“D. Flowers and YB both signed in October of 2021, but we negotiated for about two years prior,” he said. “Before I signed D.Flowers, I heard him and I watched him work. I watched him get on Worldstar and have success. I watched the way him and a few other artists in the city would release their music, and essentially made my own blueprint.”
He continued to speak on how he got YB. “What attracted me to YB is his mindset. I established a good relationship with him and I noticed how much we were alike mentally. He’s humble, he’s appreciative, he works hard and I knew he’d deliver when the opportunity presents itself. I just had faith in that.”
Now that Sina has his three prominent pieces on the Black Diamond roster with regional success, he’s been in full-go mode. He’s currently focusing on partnering with a major label on a joint venture deal and making Black Diamond a household name in hip-hop, and to do so, he knows he has to flood the market.
Right now DeeBaby is working on a new project Junkie Mode, D.Flowers is working on his debut project titled Naturally YB is currently rolling out his second project of his career, titled The Surf God Era, and Sina is still unifying the city of Houston with music.
“We want Black Diamond to be the biggest independent label,” said Athari. He then expanded on the ambitions he has for his label.
“Initially, the goal is to get everybody in a system, have them submit the content that’s owed to the label, utilize the tools, learn where to put the money, study what they do, and take that with us.”
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