Each year, ASCAP’s Rhythm & Soul division recognizes individuals who have brought great honor to the city of Atlanta through their achievements in music and recently, ASCAP hosted its Third Annual Atlanta Legends Dinner honoring Antonio “L.A” Reid. The dinner, held at the Mandarin Hotel in Atlanta’s Buckhead area, was hosted by prolific Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Usher, Grammy award-wining Big Boi of the iconic rap duo OutKast, and music executive/producer Kawan “KP” Prather.
The night included a speech from LaFace co-founder and friend Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, frequent collaborator/partner songwriter Daryl Simmons, and a video montage featuring André 3000, Mariah Carey, TLC, Jennifer Hudson, Avril Lavigne, and Jennifer Lopez. This year Usher, BabyFace, Cee-Lo Green, Big Boi, T.I., Shanti Das, Kawan “KP” Prather, Timbaland, Kandi Burruss, Polow Da Don, Big Gipp, T-Mo, Bryan Michael Cox, Johnta Austin, Chaka Zulu and more were among the guests at the dinner to salute L.A. Reid.
Usher, Babyface, Daryl Simmons, and Big Boi shared anecdotes about working with Reid. Usher talked about L.A. helping birth his career. “I may not have had a shot had I not gotten in front of L.A. Reid,” said Usher. He went on to describe Reid as a mogul that was able to motivate those around him, calling him the glue that held LaFace together and pushed everyone to be the best. Usher referred to Reid as the godfather of Atlanta music and culture.
Babyface and Daryl Simmons took to the podium to reminisce on the birth of LaFace records. Babyface and Simmons shared that they all moved to Atlanta to start a new record company and to be a big fish in a small pond. Both agreed that it was Reid’s dream and vision to start their own record company and sign their own artists. Reid accepted his award dancing to the podium with Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot N*gga” playing in the background. Before closing out the evening L.A. Reid took a moment to share some of his fondest LaFace memories like TLC’s Left Eye asking for $750,000 for the “Waterfalls” video & mareketing Donell Jones and OutKast.
AllHipHop caught up with Babyface, T.I., Big Boi, Timbaland, Kandi Burruss, Bryan Michael Cox, Johnta Austin and more to discuss the impact Reid made on their career as well as the LaFace era. We also spoke with L.A. about how it felt to be honored for his contribution to music. Check out the video recap below.
Also check out more photos from the evening below. Photos by Paras Griffin/Getty Images