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How Def Jam Lost Control of Hip Hop

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20121)
1 reply | jump to latest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR1f3Hgrujc

For almost two decades, hip-hop’s birthplace housed a label that served as its unbridled market leader. Born 35 years ago in a cramped dorm room at NYU, Def Jam became the perennial force in a culture that had previously lacked a governing entity. Helmed by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, But in the year 2019, it’s undeniable that the company which runs out of 1755 Broadway has been cajoled into to sharing its perch at the top of the hip-hop ladder.

[–] LuckyLucius (342) 5 years ago

When Def Jam Recordings made it's debut in 1984 it's sole purpose was to make rap and hip-hop artists successful as they could but I think ever since Island Records brought them Def Jam really changed their image and started adding R&B singers to their lineup and with this new image it shows that Def Jam has changed direction. But there are other record labels that keep the rap image and still be successful such as Tommy Boy Records who made rap group Naughty By Nature a household name Doggystyle which is the label owned by Snoop Dogg and The INC Records which in addition to making singer Ashanti a huge name for herself also had hip-hop and rap artists promoted well but when you are a rap artist making your way up the ladder Def Jam was your record label but I do hope Def Jam survives and not transforms into an R&B label