Hip-hop turns 40: The 10 most important moments in the culture’s history

def_jam

No. 3 Def Jam Recordings


There had been moderately successful hip-hop labels before, but upstarts like Enjoy and Sugarhill never bum-rushed the mainstream with the kind of purpose and visibility that Def Jam had. Founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, the label proved that rappers could be as big as any other global music stars and it provided a template for everyone from Ruthless to Bad Boy to Cash Money Records to follow.


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