Fan explainer Liner Notes
How Def Jam started: Rick Rubin, Russell Simmons and 1984
A college student with a love of loud records and a promoter with a vision. The fan version of how Def Jam began.
Def Jam was founded in 1984 by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. Rubin was still a student at New York University when the label got going, and his stripped-back, loud production style became its early sound.
The first wave
LL Cool J was the label’s first breakout star; his debut album Radio arrived in 1985. A year later, the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill (released November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia) became the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200.
Public Enemy followed, and by the end of the decade Def Jam was shorthand for hip-hop’s cutting edge. Rubin left in the late 1980s to start his own label, Def American.
Today
Def Jam Recordings is now owned by Universal Music Group and based in Manhattan, working across hip-hop, R&B, soul and pop.