Def Jam Music Group Inc.: 10th Year Anniversary [PA]

Performer: Various Artists
Artist: Papa Juggy; Nate Dogg; Shawnna; Mary J. Blige; Blackstreet; Missy Elliott; Twista; Juelz Santana; Beanie Sigel; Pharrell Williams; Jamie Foxx; Mannie Fresh; Will.I.Am; Maimouna Youssef; Kanye West
Distributor: n/a

Notes: This 4-CD, 59-song box set marks the ten year anniversary of the Def Jam Music Group. It includes a 64-page full color booklet with photographs, liner notes and track-by-track annotations. Liner Note Author: Bill Adler. Photographers: Ricky Powell; Lionel Deluy; Albert Watson; Dean Karr; Wayne Maser; Clay Patrick McBride; Jules Allen; James Hamilton; Danny Clinch. Def Jam scored an almost unfathomable streak of hits during the opening years of the golden age of hip-hop. The legendary label founded by Rick Rubin & Russell Simmons launched the careers of LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and many others. This sleekly packaged four-disc box set, released in 1994, chronicles the halcyon years of the imprint. The set features smash hits like "Around the Way Girl," "Fight the Power," and "Fight for Your Right" from the abovementioned superstars, alongside groundbreaking singles like Slick Rick's "Children's Story" and Onyx's "Slam," winding up as hip-hop took its next turn with tracks like Method Man's "Bring the Pain." When Def Jam, the premier hip-hop label founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1995, it did so with a box set. It was a bold declaration from a label dedicated to a form of music once frequently dismissed as a fad. (Putting it in further perspective, the same year saw sets of similar weight documenting the Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, and Marvin Gaye.) Now 15 years later, Def Jam looks back on a catalog that is 25 years deep. The label's significance since the mid-'90s has only intensified, not just through its lasting classics, but also through its ceaseless ability to thrive commercially and (if less often) creatively. Ironically, Def Jam Recordings 25th Anniversary contains the same number of tracks as Def Jam Music Group Inc.: 10th Year Anniversary. It contains five discs instead of four, with only 12 songs on each disc, and each disc covers five years -- so, 1989-1993, an era of the label described in the liner notes as "ice cold" and "rudderless" by director of publicity Bill Adler, gets the same amount of attention as 1984-1988. The first box had 20 songs that are on this one as well -- big guns like "Paul Revere," "Bring the Noise," "Children's Story," "Going Back to Cali," and "This Is How We Do It," as well as moderate Yo! MTV Raps-era hits still deserving of attention (Nikki D's "Daddy's Little Girl," Boss' "Deeper," Nice & Smooth's "Hip Hop Junkies"). While it is debatable that the 1996-2009 material stacks up to earlier Def Jam, the cultural impact is undeniable, and there is no denying that the tracks from Jay-Z, the Roots, Scarface, Ghostface Killah, and Nas make perfect sense when considering the label's original aesthetic. For those who shake their heads at the soft latter-day pop-R&B (Ne-Yo's "So Sick," Rihanna's "Umbrella," the-Dream's "Shawty Is da Sh*!"), it is necessary to point out that Def Jam has had a foot in R&B since the '80s, when it was releasing singles by the likes of Oran "Juice" Jones (heard on disc one), Alyson Williams, and Tashan (whose 1986 2-step gem "Read My Mind" is missed here). Music obsessives can dream about what could have been, and how Def Jam blew a terrific opportunity to balance out the hits with the deeper but high-quality material. Regardless, this box is either a wake-up call or a reminder of just how immense the label has been for three decades. (A few mistakes: disc one, track one is LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells," not "I Need a Beat"; Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" and the remix of 3rd Bass' "The Gas Face," both released in 1989, are on the 1984-1988 disc.) ~ Andy Kellman In the '80s, Def Jam Records became the leading rap and hip-hop label in America. Featuring a roster filled with superstars -- including Public Enemy, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Slick Rick, and EPMD -- Def Jam released many of the most innovative and groundbreaking records of the late '80s and, as the four-CD box Ten Year Anniversary proves, the music has lost none of its impact over the years. Over the course of the four discs, the set runs through a number or hip-hop classics, including "I Can't Live Without My Radio," "Fight the Power," "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)," "Slam," "Don't Believe the Hype," "Rock the Bells," "Regulate," "Crossover," and over 50 other tracks. The one (minor) drawback of the set is the fact that it isn't sequenced chronologically; nevertheless, each disc in the box is compulsively listenable. In sheer musical terms, Ten Year Anniversary is one of the best box sets ever compiled and is essential to any popular music collection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (12/14/95, p.81) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a sound on the New York streets...the driving force behind the most musically influential--and financially succesful--new record label of the '80s....its initial breakthrough, its stormy maturation and, finally, its establishment as a major industry player..." Spin (12/95, p.120) - 7 - Flawed Yet Worthy - "...the stable that introduced hip-hop's new-school generation...presenting brash artists with trademark personae, 'round the way allegiances, and prodigious enough rhyme skills to last an entire album....Get this to hear hip-hop's conquest of pop play out on your stereo..." Q (1/96, p.157) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "It's almost trite to say, but Def Jam is the most important black music label since Atlantic and Motown....The other astonishing thing about this wholly remarkable label is that it has continued to be vital and innovative throughout its 11-year history..." Melody Maker (12/2/95, p.31) - Bloody Essential - "...you can crash in here at random and...hear something that pipes more feeling, open intelligence, wild imagination and a simple sonic appeal into a couple of minutes than the whole of this week's...charts....The only real recommendation is capital letters saying LISTEN..." Musician (2/96, p.93) - "...Def Jam's courtship of major label music...helped create a pop-culture juggernaut, one that shredded conventions on television rather than on the indie circuit...not only captures the highlights of rap's premier label, but shows how hip-hop grew up before our eyes..." Village Voice (2/20/96) - Tied for #7 on the Reissues list of Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, p.23) - Ranked #2 on NME's `Compilations Of The Year' list for 1995. NME (Magazine) (11/25/95, p.46) - 10 (out of 10) - "...Def Jam...is probably the only record label in history that can truly claim to have altered the musical landscape both dramatically and permanently....this awesome collection...[is] an absolute must-steal for anyone with an interest in uncompromising, insurrectionary music....This, in short, is the shit..."

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