Rowdy Records
At the time, Austin had gained notoriety for writing and producing hits for acts like Monica, Another Bad Creation, Boyz II Men, Joi, For Real, Da King & I and TLC.In 1993, Reid stepped down to continue focusing his energies on LaFace, leaving Dallas to run the Atlanta-based company on his own.In spite of the label's strong buzz in the industry (mainly due to Austin's name being attached to it), by 1997 Rowdy began to flounder, as Monica's debut album had been its biggest release to date—and arguably the company's only success.Austin's career, meanwhile, continued to thrive as he remained a highly sought after producer, which led to him stepping down as CEO.In 2005, when the hip group Da BackWudz caught Austin's attention, he decided to reactivate Rowdy (after seven years of dormancy) in order to sign them.