Che Pope Became A Music Exec After ‘A Big Lesson’ From Missed Opportunity On Lauryn Hill’s ‘Miseducation’ Album

Che Pope said his start as a music executive came from a missed opportunity on Lauryn Hill's iconic album.

Former GOOD Music COO Che Pope start as a music executive came from a missed opportunity to make millions on Lauryn Hill’s iconic album.

At October’s Black Tech Weekend in Detroit, Pope recalled the “big lesson” he learned from making far less than he should’ve made for his work on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

“I probably made 20% of the money that I should have made on the record,” Pope recalled, as captured by AfroTech. “I should’ve made millions and whatever amount of money. I probably made in the neighborhood of $700,000 total, whereas I probably should’ve made like $7 million.”

Pope produced two of Hill’s classics on the album, “To Zion” and “Lost Ones,” and might not have received his due, but the results inspired a career transition.

“That’s a big lesson,” he said. “That’s college tuition for my children and so forth, but it led me to become an executive. That’s actually why I became a music executive because I wanted to know the business inside and out.”

Pope went on to work with other critically acclaimed artists, including Dr. Dre and The Weeknd before leading Kanye West’s GOOD Music as COO. He spent seven years there, one of the longest-lasting employees.

Pope exited in 2018 with the goal of launching his own company.

“I think for me it was the next progression in my career. To transition from working with somebody and helping them build their stuff to building my own company,” he told Vibe in 2020.

“I am building a music incubator, start-up,” he added. “It was really sort of the next progression in my career. I had to take that step as a business owner. And that takes a lot of work, a lot of focus, and a lot of commitment, you know? It’s one of those things. They say that saying, ‘If it was easy, everybody could do it?’ It’s not easy.”

In January 2022, Pope launched WRKSHP with billionaire Dan Gilbert. The music-based lifestyle brand works to educate upcoming artists about the music business, help them avoid 360-degree deals by securing ownership of their work, and to help them “profit share from revenues derived from their intellectual property and most effectively monetize their art,” he said in a press release.