Azeez “Laka” Alaka and Brandon Holmes have a clear vision for their production company, No More Heroes, even if their headquarters is still under construction. In November 2020 the friends and business partners bought a vacant commercial building on 19th near Douglass Park, and on an overcast May afternoon they lead a tour of it, explaining over the sound of power tools how everything will eventually be laid out. They point out the eventual locations of recording studios, common spaces, a grassy backyard for cookouts, and sets being built to resemble jails, hospitals, and courtrooms—which, they joke, will get you far in the world of rap videos.

  • DCG’s video for “Mmhmm” dropped last August.

Connor Wiles of Chicago video-directing duo New Trash calls Alaka a legend. “Any version of the city’s rap history without him is incomplete,” he says via Instagram message. “Even with the amount of videos [No More Heroes] do, they still always have these super unique visuals and somehow never repeat themselves, which is like the hardest thing to do. I’m always looking forward to what they’re gonna drop next.”

Viral successes such as DGainz’s 2012 video for Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like” had become essential to turning independent street rappers into stars, and both No More Heroes directors learned that lesson from seeing it happen. “That’s what makes us the rawest A&Rs—we watch music videos from upcoming cameramen,” Alaka says. “No one has ever got on in our city without shooting a video with an upcoming cameraman. It’s impossible.” Because they leapt into the music industry DIY style, without wasting time with gatekeeping institutions, they’ve amassed far more experience in the biz than you might expect of two 26-year-olds—just like many of the independent rappers they’ve worked with.

Alaka and Holmes began thinking about rebranding in late 2019, after noticing waning interest in the Laka Films channel. They spent four months considering new names for the enterprise. “Laka Films” put all the emphasis on Alaka as an individual, and he wasn’t comfortable with that anymore—one of his biggest regrets is trying to be too independent when he was just starting out. “Black people in general have trust issues, and trying to do everything by themselves,” he says. His partnership with Holmes changed all that. “As soon as we teamed up, G, everything went times three, times four, times five.”

No More Heroes were impressed with the young performers’ charisma, even in unscripted settings. Zielinski set up a tripod for an impromptu interview with DCG. “They were just talking and making jokes with each other, and Laka and I were looking at each other, knowing these kids have the greatest chemistry,” he says.

Those lessons paid off for No More Heroes when DCG signed to Atlantic—the deal, announced in early June, was something of a joint venture, establishing a channel by which No More Heroes could bring more artists to Atlantic without tying them exclusively to the label. DCG commemorated the announcement with the release of “House Party,” a new song produced by buzzy collective Internet Money with a video from Cole Bennett of Lyrical Lemonade. Speaking by phone a few weeks after the announcement, Alaka and Holmes explain that they expect their connections at Atlantic to lead to more directing gigs for the label’s artists: “Being at the forefront of their minds, they’re willing to reach out to us first to offer projects that are reasonably in their realm,” Holmes says.