Ichiban Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey[1] and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
[2] Besides recording a string of hip hop groups in later years, Ichiban originally specialised in blues and has also released albums by musicians such as Buster Benton and Raful Neal.
Ichiban filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999.
[3] The catalog is now controlled by EMI, but nothing has been reissued since the label ceased operations.
The label's name, "ichi-ban", is Japanese for "number one" or "first one", an expression commonly used in Japan to mean the best.