Longevity is a word seldom used in conversation to describe an indie label. All too often, indie labels will form, have a great runs, and then fold after four or five years. Although this has been the norm for many years, there seems to be a new trend developing. In this age of access to information, new media, and most importantly, new listeners, the indie labels have found ways to stay afloat. As the music industry continues to plummet, major label companies are dropping left and right, and the power players of yesterday are scrambling to find ways to monopolize what has been slowly brewing for decades now – the success of the independent label.

Indie labels have always shown that they’ve had the talent to contend with the major labels, not only with their artists, but with their management as well. One inde label that exemplifies this best is Duck Down Records. Duck Down Records has laid out a blueprint for consistency and excellence, which if followed by other indie labels, can lead to a major power shift in the music industry.

Duck Down is home to many underground legends, past and present. They are celebrating their 15th year anniversary, a feat that is to be highly commended, especially considering the financial down turn that the music industry has taken over the last decade. Headed by legendary Brooklyn emcee, Buckshot and co-founder Dru Ha, Duck Down backed one of Hip Hops most powerful collective’s Boot Camp Click, which consisted of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and the Originoo Gunn Clappaz. With such a huge collective, the label cranked out underground classics such as Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka, Operation Lock Down, Da Storm, Blah, Won on Won, Stay Real and many more. Summarizing the 15 years of success and accomplishments that Duck Down has amassed would be a bore, that’s what wikipedia is for. So we’ve decided to give you some video highlights of the legendary Duck Down Roster:

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