The first producer-and-crew label that released many classic records in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Most of the label's releases were by members of the Juice Crew, a loose-knit group of artists centered around producer Marley Marl.

Initially, Cold Chillin’ was a subsidiary of Prism Records, then it signed a five-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records and, in the mid-1990s, it was distributed by Epic Street/SME Records. Since the deal with Epic Street, it has only really existed as a reissue label, eventually bought by LandSpeed Records around 1998. Only Big Daddy Kane’s works remain with Warner Bros.