Def Jam Records launched by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin

1984: Number 8 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of R&B and hip-hop musicThe Def Jam label holds an almost mythical status within hip-hop. How come? After all, it was far from the first to put out rap music and, though it released numerous seminal records (Run DMC, Public Enemy, EPMD), there are perhaps not so many as you might think.Still, there is no label whose fortunes seem so intertwined with hip-hop's own, tracing the genre's growth from cottage industry in the 80s via blu...

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