1995–1999 After a career as an independent marketing professional, Neil Levine founded Penalty Recordings, launching it in 1995 as a joint venture between himself and
Tom Silverman. The Capone-N-Noreaga album
The War Report followed in 1997, which reached a peak of #21 on
The Billboard 200 album sales chart. Between 1997 and 1999, Penalty released albums by artists such as
Skull Duggery,
Crooked Lettaz (
David Banner and Kamikaze),
Half a Mill, and
187 Fac. Levine sold the remaining 50% of Penalty to Tommy Boy in 1999, staying on long enough to complete the transition before moving on to eventually become Vice-President of Urban Marketing and Artist Development at
TVT Records. The artists on Penalty became Tommy Boy artists following the close of the acquisition. a company for which Levine would also serve as the general manager of. Three of its key releases during this period between 2002 and 2006 were
Milk Me by the Beanuts,
Shaheedullah And Stereotypes by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and
The Hear After by J-Live. Penalty was also one of the partners involved in producing and marketing the AND1 Mixtape Tour series of DVDs, featuring gameplay and interviews of
streetball players. The label closed in 2006, when Levine became the head of Imperial Records for EMI Music.
2014–present On January 21, 2014, Penalty was reactivated as an independent label distributed by
RED, in 2014.
Joell Ortiz, BeatKing, Hi-Rez and
EMC, which includes
Masta Ace,
Wordsworth and Strick. Penalty released BeatKing's album
3 Weeks on October 30, 2015, with upcoming releases by Statik KXNG (
Statik Selektah & KXNG Crooked) and
Trina set for release before the end of the year. == Current artists==