Def Jux marks the beginning of backpacker hip-hop

1999: Number 41 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of R&B and hip-hop musicThey thought of themselves as "true schoolers" – devotees of hip-hop's core values – and coalesced around bands such as Jurassic 5 and indie labels such as Rawkus that kept the flame of hip-hop creativity burning amid the era of shiny suits and bling. In 1999, Company Flow left Rawkus and leader El-P set up the Def Jux imprint. Until he mothballed it in 2010, Def Jux acted as a counterbalance and cons...

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