Deluxe Records

Background

After Hamburg label Eimsbush went bankrupt in 2003, Dynamite Deluxe member Samy Deluxe founded Deluxe Records within the same year. At first, it was part of Capitol Records, owned by EMI.

The first artists besides Samy Deluxe were the rap group Headliners and rapper Illo. To promote them, Samy helped launch the collective/event series Hamburgs Finest, which started online and later released the retail mixtape Hamburgs Finest Mixtape Vol. 4 - So Deluxe So Glorious. The 2005 compilation album Deluxe Records - Let's Go, along with the Let's-Go-Tour, helped introduce the label to a wider audience.

In 2006, four more artists signed: Munich rapper Ali A$, Ruhr Area artists Manuellsen and Snaga & Pillath, and Cologne rapper Blade. On February 12, 2007, an internet show called Deluxe Zoom began broadcasting live performances and backstage footage, though episodes appeared irregularly and are no longer produced. In July 2007, Deluxe Records broke away from Capitol Records/EMI and became an independent label distributed by Groove Attack, with only Samy Deluxe's albums remaining on Capitol.

In December 2007, rapper TUA joined. However, Snaga & Pillath left in March 2008 due to business misunderstandings, and Manuellsen, Illo, and Blade also left in 2008. TUA left the label in 2010, and Ali A$ later departed as well, so the roster was never permanently those three.

In December 2008, they released a sampler titled Liebling, ich habe das Label geschrumpft (English: Honey, I Shrunk the Label), a parody of the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, referencing the reduced number of signed artists.