Universal Motown Republic Group, also abbreviated as UMRG, was an umbrella label founded in 1999 by Universal Music Group to oversee the labels assigned to it's unit. UMRG was formed in 1999 by pooling together Universal Records, Motown Records, and Republic Records, all of which are now defunct, but which gave way to the current incarnations of those labels at the time, Universal Motown Records and Universal Republic Records.

Universal Motown Republic Group was one of the three Universal Music Group umbrella units in North America to deal primarily with mainstream pop, rock, and urban performers; the others being: The Island Def Jam Music Group (now named The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group) and Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Barry Weiss served as Chairman & CEO of the Company. In the summer of 2011, changes were made at the Universal Motown Republic Group umbrella, Motown Records was separated from Universal Motown Records (causing it to shut down and transfer it's artists to either Motown Records or Universal Republic Records) and the umbrella label and merged into the The Island Def Jam Music Group, making Universal Republic Records a stand alone label and shutting down Universal Motown Republic Group.

Kevin Rudolf (born February 17, 1983) is an American rock singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer signed to Cash Money Records. His breakthrough song was his 2008 debut single "Let It Rock" featuring Lil Wayne, which was certified Triple Platinum, and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on the UK Singles Chart, #3 on the Australian Singles Chart, and #2 on the Canadian Hot 100. His second studio album To the Sky features the platinum hit single "I Made It" featuring Lil Wayne, Jay Sean, and Birdman which peaked at 21 on the US Hot 100 and number 11 on the Digital Singles Billboard Chart. Rudolf has won three BMI awards.

In 2001, Rudolf got his first break with the release of self-written pop record Binocular by Maverick Records under the pseudonym Binocular. The lead track, "You", was featured on the TV series Smallville. A song not included on the album, a cover of "Maybe You're Gone" by Danny Scherr, played over the end credits of 20th Century Fox movie The Girl Next Door.

Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, better known by his stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, beatboxer and record producer. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. This led to him being signed to Virgin Records and having two UK top 10 hits as a solo artist in 2004: "Eyes On You" at #6 and "Stolen" at #4. They were included in his critically acclaimed debut album Me Against Myself which, though only moderately successful in the UK, sold more than two million copies across Asia and remains his most successful album to date. Alongside the Rishi Rich Project, Sean was a pioneer of Bhangra-R&B fusion, which his debut album helped popularize among the worldwide South Asian diaspora.

He eventually left Virgin in 2006 and founded his own independent label, Jayded Records. After a gap of nearly four years, he returned in 2008 with "Ride It", which reached #11 in the UK and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries, including Romania where it was one of the best-selling singles of the year. It was followed by hits such as "Maybe", which reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100, and "Tonight". They were included in his second album, My Own Way, which became his most successful album on the UK Albums Chart, reaching #6, and topped the UK R&B Chart. At around this time, he began increasingly incorporating electropop sounds into his R&B music.

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.

Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, record producer, and actress.

Diana Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She has won seven American Music Awards, was honored with a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.