Danny NoNo Interview: The Rise of Big Eleanor Records

Since the conception of the modern music industry, record labels have been treated as the villains. Exploiting artists, making shady deals, prioritising profit and wealth over the art itself, there are a million and one reasons to despise the major labels. That’s what makes indie labels so important.

Grassroots labels like Big Eleanor are vital for the underground music scene, supporting artists in legitimate ways without sacrificing the artistry for a larger profit. For the past five years, label founder Danny NoNo has used Big Eleanor to shine a light on some of the sharpest talents in the indie hip hop scene. With the release of Shaw Calhoune’s Back to the Matters at Hand, Calhoune and NoNo are making a statement on the current state of hip hop, and the importance of the indie scene to keep the genre alive.

The upcoming project is a stylistic departure for Shaw Calhoune, breaking away from the soulful sincerity of 2024’s Carry Out On Shaw in favour of a bolder, sci-fi driven aesthetic. Danny NoNo broke down the intentions behind the space-travelling epic:

“The album, in short, is a project about a story of modern hip hop, in our opinion, and how it’s become stale,” NoNo said. “Everyone is regurgitating, putting out the same stuff, there’s not too much new going on, so Shaw has been summoned to another galaxy to almost battle, Power Rangers style, with different MCs from different planets that are beyond our galaxy.”

Fans of Carry Out On Shaw may be surprised by the grittier, more ambitious style of Back to the Matters of Hand, but for NoNo, that sort of bold evolution is what music is all about. “As a fan, I like to think what would excite me the most. Knowing what’s next is the least exciting thing. If we did the same project again, who knows if it would be better? It could be worse, then people would rather listen to this one, then it just kind of mutes this one from your discography.”

Unlike previous Big Eleanor releases, with a tighter focus on the main artist, the latest project from Shaw Calhoune offers a smorgasbord of hip hop talents, competing with the star MC for the best verse. NoNo said: “We just compiled all these people we’ve wanted to do songs with over the years and then, with this one album, we just get it all out … It was a lot of us gathering a bunch of stuff we’ve wanted to do over the years [that other projects] didn’t allow.”

Back to the Matters at Hand is one of many Calhoune projects released under Big Eleanor. The relationship between Calhoune and NoNo goes back years, almost to the label’s founding. After shifting from rock into hip hop, NoNo scoured Bandcamp for rising talent, and quickly came across Calhoune’s The Rudy Tape.

“I listened to the whole project, I listened to it a couple of times, and I just immediately messaged him,” NoNo said. “I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t know what I can do, but let me help you. I don’t know what it means, but I just want to help. I just want to be a part of your process. I’ve saw what you did by yourself, imagine if there’s one other person here helping.’ It was radio silence for a couple of months. I was so new at the time, and he wanted to shop himself around to people who were more established, which is cool. I guess he just didn’t have some of the conversations that we wished he’d had, and he just thought again, ‘Wait, who was that guy who was actually enthused to talk to me?’ He reached back out. We’ve talked literally on facetime every day since, for the past five years.”

Until recently, Shaw Calhoune was the only artist signed to Big Eleanor. In 2024, however, the roster expanded, with NoNo welcoming in rappers Laddie Moran and Adrian Rose. NoNo spoke on why the decision to bring in more artists took so long:

“We slowly manoeuvred around, just us, knowing that at some point, we would meet some people who would fit that idea. Two years ago, me and Shaw were doing a lot of shows. We got the guys who are on now, Laddie Moran and Adrian Rose – they would always show up, be part of the performance, and they kind of saw the vision of what Big Eleanor was doing from afar, always supported us by doing their part, coming to the shows. We all just started doing more shows, hanging out more, and then one day I was just like, ‘Yo, Shaw, I might approach these guys.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, I thought you already did!’ So it just naturally fell into place.”

The doors at Big Eleanor don’t open for just anyone. When it comes to adding artists to the roster, NoNo stresses the importance for every talent to have their own voice, strengths, and appeal. For Laddie Moran and Adrian Rose, the addition felt logical.

On Laddie Moran, NoNo said: “When I moved to Lancaster five, six years ago, [Laddie] put out a project. I heard it, I saw him live, and he’s been my favourite local hip hop artist since. Before I knew him, before I knew his name, he’s been my favourite rapper here … Obviously he’s good as shit, he can flow his fucking ass off, his ceiling is the Grammys stage, but really his work ethic, and him being my favourite hip hop artist for five, six years just, no brainer.”

The label leader had similar praise for Adrian Rose: “. He’s respected in here as a mixer, a studio engineer, all that stuff. So before I even knew he was doing music, I was hearing this reputation of him as a beatmaker, him recording people, a mixing artist. Knowing how hands-on he can be, and how skilled he is on all of these levels, I just know his ceiling is unbelievably high too.”

With more singles on the way from Shaw Calhoune, four different EPs in the works from Laddie Moran, and an EP underway for Adrian Rose, the output from Big Eleanor will be even greater into the new year. But regardless of quantity, the focus at the label is always on quality. NoNo said:

“There’s a mix of creativity and practicality. To be a Big El artist, it does take a little bit of extra, harder work, because you’re literally looking at how any other artist has cut any forms of corners and you’re denying that approach. You have to believe in the long-term, to sit in your vision, step by step, day by day, chip away at it.”

Big Eleanor Records is not just any indie label. With Danny NoNo’s emphasis on quality and working for the long-term, what the label may lack in a long list of releases, they make up for in passionate, creative, authentic hip hop the mainstream scene has been lacking. NoNo put it succinctly: “Big Eleanor and the artists of Big Eleanor can show that there is a pureness in this creative space that is often forgotten about or people think doesn’t exist.”

Find Big Eleanor Records here.