The third decade of Def Jam’s 30 years brings us from 2004 up to the present-day. Yeezus shows the way, the truth, and the life while Rihanna shelters us under her umbrella (ella).
Welcome to the third and final part of our Def Jam trilogy. We’re celebrating the best, worst, oddest, and savviest moments of the label’s three decades. If you missed our roundup of decades one and two, go here and here. This time, we’re looking at the label’s final years, from 2004 to the present.
Yeezus Season: Kanye West saves the day (2004-2006)
Johnny Nunez/WireImage
Kanye West, Kevin Liles of Def Jam, Juelz Santana, Russell Simmons, Musiq, Reverend Run and Wyclef Jean at the Philadelphia Hip-Hop Summit in August 2003.
If you read our previous installment, you know that Jay Z and DMX were the dominant forces of the previous era of Def Jam. But by the end of 2003, DMX was struggling to match his late-‘90s peak, and Jay was (at least temporarily) retired. With Hov not making records, the label’s success fell into the hands of an artist who once admiringly referred to Jay as his “Big Brother”: Kanye West.
West’s 2004 debut, The College Dropout, quickly went double-platinum, and set the stage for one of the most successful (and eccentric) careers in modern music. He would release two more huge albums in the next three years. But that wasn’t the only thing going on at the label. Another Roc-a-fella offshoot, Cam’ron’s Diplomats crew, took NYC by storm with releases from Killa Cam and his protege Juelz Santana. Add in great albums from veterans like Ghostface and The Roots, and the debuts of promising new artists Rick Ross and Rihanna, and Def Jam was on the rise yet again.
Highlight: Cam’ron – “Down and Out”
Killa Cam released only two albums while on Def Jam, but they were the best of his career. His 2004 release Purple Haze is a near-perfect record, where the soulful beats match his patented mix of knotty wordplay, humor and menace. This song, with production from (who else?) Kanye West, is a highlight, with Cam in punchline-delivering rare form, including this dance-based gem: “Harlem Shake? Nah, I'm in Harlem shaking awake/Shaking the bake, shaking the Jakes/Kill you, shoot the funeral up, and Harlem Shake at your wake.”
Lowlight: Nas – “Who Killed It”
Who thought it was a good idea for Nas to rap a whole song in a ‘40s-movie-detective voice? It’s a distracting miscalculation so outrageous that it has to be heard to be believed. A close runner-up lowlight comes on Nasir’s 2004 album Street’s Disciple, where he has back-to-back songs featuring “Scarlett”—a.k.a. Nas with a pitched-up voice pretending to be a woman, and fooling absolutely nobody.
Curiosity: Ashanti – Collectables
This was clearly a desperate bid by Ashanti to get out of her contract. There are a half-dozen remixes, with verses by basically everyone in Murder, Inc. and, for some reason, Paul Wall, and only four new songs.
Big Moves: Jay Z for President
In late 2004, Jay Z announced that he’d be taking the reigns at Def Jam. He was only in charge for two years, from 2005 through 2007, but his legacy included making stars of Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Young Jeezy, and Rick Ross.
Good Girl Gone Bad: Rihanna Takes the Throne (2007-2010)
Thomas Starke/Getty Images
Rihanna performs in Germany in May 2007 at the TUI Arena.
Rihanna was already two albums into her career by the time 2007 hit. She’d even had a #1 single with “SOS.” However, that was nothing compared to the firestorm that was her 2007 release Good Girl Gone Bad. The lead single, a little ditty originally meant for Britney Spears called “Umbrella,” made her an international superstar. The song reached #1 in seventeen countries, broke iTunes records, and sold well over four million copies. It even kick-started the career of the song’s co-writer, Terius “The-Dream” Nash, who was also signed to Def Jam. The album’s follow-up single, “Don’t Stop the Music,” did almost as well, and Rihanna moved into the top tier of pop stars.
But it wasn’t only pop that kept Def Jam going—rap was still in the mix. Rick Ross and Young Jeezy continued their ascent, and veterans like Jadakiss and Fabolous released solid albums as well.
Highlight: Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Almost everything that can be said about this sure-to-be-classic album has been said already. So we’ll let Kanye himself have the final word. In 2010, he told Zane Lowe of the BBC, “I showed people that I understand how to make perfect. Dark Fantasy could be considered to be perfect.”
Lowlight: Chingy – “Fly Like Me”
This failed first single from Chingy’s lowest-charting album (quite an accomplishment!) starts by rhyming “seen it all” and “need and all,” and goes downhill from there.
Curiosity: NORE Goes Reggaeton
In 2004 through 2005, veteran rapper Noreaga had a huge hit with the reggaeton song “Oye Mi Canto.” Having done so much to push the genre into the mainstream, the Queens spitter made a decided to make a whole reggaeton album, 2006’s N.O.R.E. y la Familia...Ya Tú Sabe. Sadly, the trend never really took off, and this record is left as a reminder of what could have been.
Big Moves: The-Dream takes over everything
Terius “The-Dream” Nash isn’t one to let an opportunity pass him by. “Umbrella,” which he co-wrote, came out in March, 2007. By that summer, he was dominating the airwaves with J. Holiday’s similarly-echoing “Bed,” which he penned with producer Los Da Mystro, and his own smash hit “Shawty is a 10.” The following year, to show it was no fluke, he would work on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
The Return of the Boom-Bap: Hip-Hop Makes a Comeback (2011-Present)
C Flanigan/FilmMagic
Big Boi at the 2014 Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco, Calif.
After an era dominated by pop and R&B, rap on Def Jam has made a huge comeback in recent years. Popular and critically acclaimed releases by Jay Z and Kanye West, The Roots, Young Jeezy, Pusha T, and a trio of Bigs—Boi, K.R.I.T. and Sean—have brought hip-hop back to the front. But, true to the label’s history, R&B isn’t far behind, with a monster hit from Frank Ocean and promising up-and-comer Jhene Aiko to balance out Rihanna’s star power.
Highlight: Nas – “A Queens Story”
This song is not only the highlight of Life Is Good, but perhaps of Nas’ whole post-Illmatic career. It’s a four-verse, beat-switching, hookless epic that traces the rapper’s whole life and milieu. He remembers a night he almost died and his mother’s passing, but also Queens icons like the Shirt Kings, Colbert “Black Just” Johnson, the Bebo posse, Black Rock & Ron, and more. At the end of it all, he’s almost unbearably lonely despite his success. “Now I’m the only black in the club with rich Yuppie kids/Sad thing, this is the top, but where the hustlers went?”
Lowlight: Pittsburgh Slim – “Girls Kiss Girls”
It takes a lot to be the lowlight of an era that brought the world Trinidad James, but Pittsburgh Slim manages to accomplish it. Slim not only manages to rap as if he learned his lyrics phonetically, but the video looks as if it was directed by a five year old as well. That’s not even counting the song itself, a retrograde, sexist “I Kissed A Girl” rip-off that needs to be heard to be believed.
Curiosity: Ghostface Killah – “In tha Park”
Smack in the middle of Ghost’s 2010 album Apollo Kids is this duet with Black Thought. The song is basically a lecture about the early days of hip-hop, complete with audio examples (echo chamber sound effects, the famous “Fresh scratch”). Ghost reminisces on Uni markers, Jordache, and NYC park jams. Thought gives a Philly-centric take, from the After Midnight club to Cash Money and Miz to that city’s favorite malt liquor, Coqui 900.
Big Moves: Independence Day
In April of this year, it was announced that Def Jam would, after years of being tied to Island, go back to being its own entity. Island Def Jam is no more, and the label has now come full circle back to existing on its own, setting the pace for the rest of the music world. Here’s to the next 30 years, Def Jam!
