About Us
Fred Crawford, Jr., President/CEO of Creative Capital Assets,Inc (CCA) and Creative Music Management (CMM) and Launch Pad Entertainment, Inc., has more than twenty + years of entertainment industry experience.
Fred was born in Harlem, New York and spent his pre-teen and teenage years surrounded and influenced by the hip-hop movement being birthed in his community by those we now refer to as the “Legends of Hip Hop & R & B"!
Fred earned his B.A., a double degree in Management & Political Science from the University of Central Florida (UCF) where he received a full basketball scholarship. Fred then played professional basketball internationally. He began establishing his reputation within the music industry in 1990 as the manager (along with music industry veteran Van Gibbs and his son, super-producer Salaam Remi Currently SR. VP of Columbia Records) of Polydor Records rap artists "Zhigge", who went on to receive two Billboard top 10 Rap singles as a result of Fred’s guidance and leadership. Subsequently, the progressive Fred became a part of the management team of multi-platinum artist/writer/producer and Grammy award winner Brian McKnight. He spent several years sharpening his music industry skills as part of this influential team under the direction of Herb Trawick of The Trawick Co.
In 1994, Fred birthed CreativeMusicManagement (CMM), which has represented numerous groundbreaking artists and producers over the years, including Christopher Williams, Marc Nelson of Az-Yet, Michael-Angelo Saulsberry of Portrait, super-producer Damon Thomas, TANK, L.T. Hutton, and multi-platinum Grammy-nominated Producer Armando Colon, to name a few.
In 1999, Fred, along with producer/client Armando Colon, birthed Launch Pad Entertainment, Inc., a full service record label and production company. Launch Pad Entertainment, Inc. boasts an impressive resume of imprint, production and distribution deals, partnering with the legendary Quincy Jones’ Qwest/Warner Brothers Records, Island
/Def Jam Music Group, BMG, as well as Shaquille O’Neal’s Entertainment Co., “T.W.IS.M.”.
Also in 1999, Fred and CMM began guiding and managing the multi-faceted career of Hip Hop legend MC LYTE, the first female rapper to receive a Grammy nomination and the first female rapper certified gold. In 2003, Fred & MC LYTE created an imprint/label joint ventures GI-CMM/BMG. This label partnership was responsible for creating & distributing the 2004 Grammy-nominated CD entitled “LYTRO presents: Undaground Heat vol.1, Hosted by Jamie Foxx” produced by !MAAD PHUNK! In 2004, MC LYTE received her second career Grammy nomination for Best Solo Rap Female Performance for her hit single “Ride Wit Me,” just over ten years after her first Grammy nomination for “Ruffneck” in 1993. In 2006, MC LYTE became the first solo female inducted into the VH1 Hip Hop Honors. During their professional relationship, Fred and MC LYTE revitalized, diversified and maintained her highly successful music and entertainment career.
Over the years, Mark Middleton (formerly of Platinum recording group Blackstreet), NYC based production team- !MAAD PHUNK!, and several other writers & producers have called CMM home.
Fred’s services have been utilized as a consultant on several other projects at various record labels. In addition, he has served as the Director of Entertainment Marketing with Alloy Marketing & Promotions (AMP Urban). Along with brokering deals such as the Armando Colon/LaunchCode Productions worldwide publishing agreement with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds’ Edmonds Music/EMI Publishing, Fred has consulted with other major music publishers (including Universal, Chrysalis, Bug/Windswept & Notting Hill), signing several artists, writers & producers to worldwide publishing deals. CMM currently serves as consultant to several of the other "Legends of Hip Hop”.
New CMM and Launch Pad Entertainment artists are currently in development.
Fred has worked closely with several corporate brands/entities (assisting them in connecting with, understanding & embracing the cultural changes of the "New Generation" of artists & their target market consumers) including: Moet-Hennessy, Heineken, Coors, Crown Royal, Red Bull, Mini Cooper, (Michael) Jordan Brand, Nike, Converse, EA Sports, ESPN, NBA/NBRPA, BET, VH1, MTV, NBC/Universal and Apple.
Fred has also been involved with a number of civic causes and non-profit organizations including: The Magic Johnson Foundation, American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Susan G. Komen Foundation, California Black Women’s Health Project, Let Your Light Shine Foundation, Each One Teach One, NYC Board Of Education and The Police Athletic League of NY.
Crawford’s list of entertainment industry successes continues to grow!