Creator of “Black-ish” Kenya Barris is expanding his Hollywood profile to the music business with a new entertainment company. According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the famed writer and producer has announced the launch of Khalabo Music — a joint venture with Interscope Records that already has a stacked roster of fresh, talented artists. As an extension of his production company, Khalabo Ink Society, Barris is looking at new ways he can work his signed artists into other areas of his entertainment hub. “Kenya touches people in so many different ways and he wants music to be part of that experience, so the conversation is not just about, ‘Let me find this one artist and make the best record,'” Interscope Geffen A&M Records vice chairman Steve Berman told THR. “He wants to find the artists and be able to plug music into his universe in many different ways. It’s the complete picture with him.” Per Berman’s interview with the outlet — as part of Barris’ latest cover story — the...

Jay-Z’s entertainment umbrella Roc Nation is exploring the literary world by way of its latest book publishing partnership. Billboard reports that Roc Nation and Random House — a division of Penguin Random House — have both announced a joint venture to launch a new publishing imprint called “Roc Lit 101.” According to an announcement, the imprint will commit to publishing “books at the intersection of entertainment and genre-defying literature, including exhilarating, innovative work from some of the biggest artists and most imaginative and incisive writers of our time on a wide range of subjects such as music, sports, pop culture, activism, and art.” Billboard shares that the new imprint will be lead by Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief of Random House imprint One World Books, and Jana Fleishman, EVP of Roc Nation. “The goal of RocLit 101 is to provide a creative outlet for acclaimed wordsmiths and artists to share their visions with new audiences,” Fleishman shared in a...