Def Jam Recordings

Founding

Def Jam was started in 1984 by Rick Rubin in his dormitory at New York University’s Weinstein Hall, and Russell Simmons, the Hollis, Queens manager of Run-DMC, soon joined as a partner. The first record to carry the name was a single by Rubin’s punk band Hose, and the second was T La Rock and Jazzy Jay’s “It’s Yours.” In 1984 the label released LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat” and the Beastie Boys’ “Rock Hard.” Those singles sold well enough to bring a distribution deal with CBS Records through Columbia in 1985.

Rise

LL Cool J’s debut album “Radio” came out in November 1985. It reached number 46 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 on the R&B albums chart and was later certified platinum. The Beastie Boys’ “Licensed to Ill” (1986) became the first rap album to reach number 1 on the Billboard 200. It was one of the first rap albums certified platinum and was certified Diamond in 2015. Def Jam also signed the thrash metal band Slayer in 1986. Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (1988) reached number 42, topped the Black albums chart and was certified platinum. In 1988 Rubin left to start Def American Recordings, and Lyor Cohen became president of the company.

Key releases and ownership changes

Despite platinum records by Public Enemy and EPMD, Def Jam ran into financial trouble in the early 1990s. PolyGram bought a 50 percent stake in 1994 and paired the label with Island Records. The deal steadied the business, and releases by Method Man, Redman and Montell Jordan followed, along with Warren G’s triple platinum “Regulate... G Funk Era.” After Universal Music Group acquired PolyGram, it bought Simmons’s remaining interest in 1999 for a reported $100 million. In 1997 Def Jam paid $1.4 million for half of Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, and it also distributed Irv Gotti’s Murder Inc. Records. DMX’s “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot” (1998) debuted at number 1 and went four times platinum, and “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood” opened at number 1 later that year with more than 670,000 copies sold in its first week.

Later years

The Island Def Jam Music Group was formed in 1999 to combine more than a dozen labels. Through Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam released Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” (2001) and Kanye West’s “The College Dropout” (2004), which sold more than two million copies. Tunji Balogun became chairman and CEO in 2022, and in 2024 the label was placed within Universal’s Republic Corps division. Def Jam is still active and has international branches in the United Kingdom, Africa, Japan, India and Southeast Asia.