mike caren

Illustrious members of the music industry including executives, A&Rs, marketing experts, managers, producers, DJs, publicists and some select veteran artists have been picked for the XXL Awards Board and they will be determining the awards winners.

In honor of the holiday, your new favorite podcast, XXL's The Break, will be taking a one week hiatus.

XXL kicks off the premiere episode of what we've deemed the rule book for rappers dying to blow up, The Break podcast. Narrated by XXL Editor-in-Chief, Vanessa Satten, and Editor Miranda J., the first episode is titled "Building Your Identity."

Mike Caren has been working in the music business since he was a kid. The current president of Worldwide A&R for all of Warner Music Group kicked off his career as a DJ and soon switched to the behind-the-scenes lane. In 1995 at 15 years old, the Beverly Hills native landed an internship with Interscope Records and worked on the marketing campaigns for artists such as 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. Tw..