30 Years of DEF JAM

Tomorrow a compilation album of one of the best American record labels of all time will be released with three discs to listen to.  I’m talking about Def Jam Recordings, a mostly hip hop label that is owned by Universal Music Group, but has it’s own sub labels such as Roc-A-Fella Records, Kanye West’s GOOD Music, Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace, and No ID’s ARTium Recordings.

Def Jam was founded years ago in 1983 by Rick Rubin who actually started the label in his dorm room at New York University.   Soon with the help of Russell Simons, the first single released was T La Rock & Jazzy Jay’s “It’s Yours.”  But hip hop wasn’t the only genre Def Jam focused on. In 1986 Slayer was signed as the only metal band to be on the label, which later moved with Rubin to Def American Recordings (American Recordings).

The album covers old Def Jam artists who started their careers in hip hop like LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and Montell Jordan.  Founder Rick Rubin chose the first disc for this compilation album wanting to stick to it’s main roots in the beginning.  Some more recent artists on the other two discs include Ashanti, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Kanye West, 2 Chainz, and Jay Z.

If you haven’t listened to a lot of hip hop this is the perfect album to listen to and get yourself into it.  With so many classic artists you can’t go wrong with starting some 80’s hip hop to what some major artists are doing now.  The Def Jam 30 box set will be released on September 16th and will include three decades of hip hop packaged in a box that looks like a turntable with a book and a bonus t-shirt.  Get yours before they sell out! Home – Def Jam