Barely Breaking Even

BBE, short for Barely Breaking Even, is a British label founded by DJs Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. Its name was taken from the 1982 song "Barely Breaking Even" by The Universal Robot Band. The label operates two sublabels: Deep Funk and Urban Theory, and is known for releasing the Beat Generation series of LPs. Its roster has included artists such as Audrey Powne, BlackCoffee, Bombay Monkey, Dark Room Notes, the late J Dilla, DJ Jazzy Jeff, George Pajon, Keb Darge, Keith Harris, Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales, Lady Daisey, Little Louie Vega, Masters at Work, Mike City, Mr Thing, Pete Rock, Phantogram, Printz Board, Rim Kwaku Obeng, Roy Ayers, Shawn Lee, Slakah the Beatchild, DJ Spinna, Spoek Mathambo, the late TY, DJ Vadim, Paul Weller, and will.i.am.

The label’s discography includes albums such as Keb Darge’s Funk Spectrum: Real Funk for Real People (1999), Pete Rock’s Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics (2003), The Foreign Exchange – Connected (2004), and Audrey Powne’s From the Fire (2024). The Beat Generation series features titles like J Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit (2001), Pete Rock’s Petestrumentals (2001), will.i.am’s Lost Change (2001), and Madlib’s WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip (2008).