Amina Diop has had a bird’s eye view of hip-hop from multiple angles. The current CEO of the thriving artist management company The Diop Agency, Amina moved her way through the music industry while wearing a number of hats including managing some of hip-hop’s favorite artists. On this episode of XXL’s Inside Track podcast, the Queens native discusses working closely with Gucci Mane, being a gatekeeper for Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert‘s rock star status letting artists be their own boss and more.
After growing up in Queens, Amina attended college in Atlanta, where she earned a business degree and later began work as an intern at Spere Records, a subsidiary of Arista Records, “many moons ago” according to her. She later got into party promotion before managing well-known video vixens like Buffy The Body, Hoops, Maliah and Rosa Acosta. She opened her own management company, The Diop Agency, in 2011, which now boasts clients like Gucci Mane, Lil Uzi Vert, Bandhunta Izzy, Peewee Longway, SleazyWorld Go and others. Amina also served as Senior Vice President of A&R at Republic Records for seven years.
“When I first worked with Gucci, I was his assistant,” Amina explains in the video below. “He had just come home from jail and he just needed someone to handle some things for him and he was in a transition phase…and he gave me a shot.”
As Young Thug’s former manager, she was tasked with keeping the ship together during his lengthy legal situation.
“I was definitely his gatekeeper—will always be his gatekeeper,” Amina says. “Trust is key, as far as like dealing with their business. Gucci’s team is very, very small. Thug’s team is very, very small. So, we kinda kept it that way.”
She also addresses the Young Thug trial during the episode, which was filmed prior to the rapper pleading guilty in the case.
Amina also speaks on letting the artists she manages be true to themselves with little interference. “Generally, they are super creative. Unless they are trying to do something that is literally detrimental to the brand, then most of the time I’ll go with it,” he adds.
XXL is back with another episode of Inside Track, a biweekly podcast that spends time with some of hip-hop’s most influential industry executives, entrepreneurs and more. Hosted by XXL Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten and music executive Courtney “Courtney CL” Lowery, each episode will continue to explore hip-hop through the eyes of people who have lived and breathed the culture.
Watch or listen to the episode of XXL‘s Inside Track podcast below. The podcast can be found on xxlmag.com, XXL’s YouTube page and on most podcast platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and XXL Live.