Archive Review: Various Artists - Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary box set (1995)

Living in suburban Nashville during the early ‘80s, my first exposure to rap music was what I read in Spin magazine, who were early champions of rappers like Schooley D and Kurtis Blow. At the time, I was more interested in the growing indie rock scene across the country, the hardcore punk sounding loud in Southern California and in the Music City’s first bands to be inspired by the changes occurring in rock. Rap music was, at the time, a largely urban phenomena, but at the urging of Spin, I sought out and grabbed 12” releases from folks like Run DMC and Grandmaster Flash.

By the time my short stint in the military had ended, mid-decade, rap was beginning to make waves in even the timid capital of country music and I was a big fan. “Big City” friends made during basic training turned me onto a whole slew of artists. About this same time, 1985 or so, Rick Rubin, along with local N.Y.C. music promoter Russell Simmons, formed Def Jam Records in order to promote their favorite rappers. A handful of successful single releases led to a distribution deal with Columbia Records. What has happened in the ten years since is a major part of rap and rock history.

Def Jam’s first national release was from James Todd Smith, a personable seventeen year old rapper with the street name LL Cool J. Hailing from Run DMC’s hometown of Hollis, Queens, Smith was part of Simmons’ Rush Productions stable of artists. LL Cool J’s “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” was an enormous success, the first major rap song to break through to a mainstream audience and the foundation upon which Def Jam’s success would be built, the label becoming a major music industry player and one of a handful of indie labels to bring rap to the mainstream masses.

The Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary collection chronicles the label’s history, culling material from throughout their decade of hits. The artists represented on the disc have helped shape rap into the commercial and critical force that it is today, stretching the genre’s musical boundaries, influencing subsequent generations of rappers and retaining rap’s popularity in the face of the ever-changing nature of popular music. The collection draws heavily from the works of its most popular and successful artists, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys, stretching 28 cuts from the trio across the 59-song, four CD collection. Other performers featured include Slick Rick, 3rd Bass, Onyx, EPMD, and Method Man, among others.

Some powerful moments from the history of rap are gathered together on the Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary set. LL Cool J’s hits “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” “Mama Said Knock You Out,” and “Rock the Bells” are joined with influential, ground-breaking cuts like Public Enemy’s “Welcome To the Terrordome,” “Bring Tha Noize” (with Anthrax), and “Fight the Power.” The Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party,” along with its accompanying video, made the trio MTV favorites and successfully crossed hip-hop lyrics and style with punk attitude and a heavy metal soundtrack. More than just a mere rap label, Def Jam has also spawned hits from more soulful, R & B oriented artists like Montell Jordan, Warren G. and Oran “Juice” Jones, all of whom are also represented here.

With almost five dozen songs and over four hours of classic music (including a handful of bonus tracks recorded in 1995 exclusively for this collection), Def Jam Music Group Ten Year Anniversary is a marvelous document of the label’s history, and quite deserving of space on the shelf of any music lover or fan of rap. (While you’re out buying this set, you may want to drop by a bookstore and seek out a copy of Havelock Nelson and Michael A. Gonzales’ Bring The Noise, an integral guide to rap and hip-hop music that covers many of the Def Jam artists in depth). (Def Jam Records, released November 21st, 1995)

Review originally published by R.A.D! Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll zine