Def Jam Recordings

Def Jam Recordings
Author: Bill Adler
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2011-10-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0847833712

The illustrated oral history of the greatest hip-hop hit-making machine in history.

Def Jam, Inc.

Def Jam, Inc.
Author: Stacy Gueraseva
Publisher: One World/Ballantine
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2011-03-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0307520390

In the early ‘80s, the music industry wrote off hip-hop as a passing fad. Few could or would have predicted that the improvised raps and raw beats busting out of New York City’s urban underclass would one day become a multimillion-dollar business and one of music’s most lucrative genres. Among those few were two visionaries: Russell Simmons, a young black man from Hollis, Queens, and Rick Rubin, a Jewish kid from Long Island. Though the two came from different backgrounds, their all-consuming passion for hip-hop brought them together. Soon they would revolutionize the music industry with their groundbreaking label, Def Jam Records. Def Jam, Inc. traces the company’s incredible rise from the NYU dorm room of nineteen-year-old Rubin (where LL Cool J was discovered on a demo tape) to the powerhouse it is today; from financial struggles and scandals–including The Beastie Boys’s departure from the label and Rubin’s and Simmons’s eventual parting–to revealing anecdotes about artists like Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, and DMX. Stacy Gueraseva, former editor in chief of Russell Simmons’s magazine, Oneworld, had access to the biggest players on the scene, and brings you real conversations and a behind-the-scenes look from a decade–and a company–that turned the music world upside down. She takes you back to New York in the ‘80s, when late-night spots such as Danceteria and Nell’s were burning with young, fresh rappers, and Simmons and Rubin had nothing but a hunch that they were on to something huge. Far more than just a biography of the two men who made it happen, Def Jam, Inc. is a journey into the world of rap itself. Both an intriguing business history as well as a gritty narrative, here is the definitive book on Def Jam–a must read for any fan of hip-hop as well as all popular-culture junkies.

The Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin

The Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin
Author: Alex Ogg
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2009-12-17
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0857121081

The Def Jam label gave America hip hop. But who gave America Def Jam? Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin did. The Men Behind Def Jam examines the most unlikely history of the legendary label that started life in a student dorm and went on to introduce the world to LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, DMX and Jay-Z. Hustler-incarnate Russell Simmons and ex-punk Rick Rubin, the odd couple, fought and triumphed against all predictions to change the course of popular music forever. Here is an honest appraisal of these rival personalities, the quarrels, the successes and the failures of the spectacular Def Jam adventure. With Rubin and Simmons now pursuing other interests, the label continues with others at the helm, but the story of Def Jam’s birth and coming of age makes for one of pop music’s most feisty and fascinating legends.

Russell Simmons

Russell Simmons
Author: Carrie Golus
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0761381570

Presents the life and career of Russell Simmons, who helped found the rap group Run-D.M.C. and the pioneering label "Def Jam Recordings."

The Big Payback

The Big Payback
Author: Dan Charnas
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 880
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1101568119

“There has never been a better book about hip-hop…a record-biz portrait that jumps off the page.”—A.V. Club The perfect read for music lovers and business aficionados alike, The Big Payback reveals the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC’s crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE VH1 SERIES THE BREAKS The Big Payback takes readers from the first $15 made by a “rapping DJ” in 1970s New York to the multi-million-dollar sales of the Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007. On this four-decade-long journey from the studios where the first rap records were made to the boardrooms where the big deals were inked, The Big Payback tallies the list of who lost and who won. 300 industry giants like Def Jam founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons gave their stories to renowned hip-hop journalist Dan Charnas, who provides a compelling, never-before-seen, myth-debunking view into the victories, defeats, corporate clashes, and street battles along the 40-year road to hip-hop’s dominance. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

Check the Technique

Check the Technique
Author: Brian Coleman
Publisher: Villard
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2009-03-12
Genre: Music
ISBN: 030749442X

A Tribe Called Quest • Beastie Boys • De La Soul • Eric B. & Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That’s a damn shame, because few outside the game know about the true creative forces behind influential masterpieces like PE’s It Takes a Nation of Millions. . ., De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hop nation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling, knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic and iconoclastic art form. The format: One chapter, one artist, one album, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from the original sources. Performers, producers, DJs, and b-boys–including Big Daddy Kane, Muggs and B-Real, Biz Markie, RZA, Ice-T, and Wyclef–step to the mic to talk about the influences, environment, equipment, samples, beats, beefs, and surprises that went into making each classic record. Studio craft and street smarts, sonic inspiration and skate ramps, triumph, tragedy, and take-out food–all played their part in creating these essential albums of the hip-hop canon. Insightful, raucous, and addictive, Check the Technique transports you back to hip-hop’s golden age with the greatest artists of the ’80s and ’90s. This is the book that belongs on the stacks next to your wax. “Brian Coleman’s writing is a lot like the albums he covers: direct, uproarious, and more than six-fifths genius.” –Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop “All producers and hip-hop fans must read this book. It really shows how these albums were made and touches the music fiend in everyone.” –DJ Evil Dee of Black Moon and Da Beatminerz “A rarity in mainstream publishing: a truly essential rap history.” –Ronin Ro, author of Have Gun Will Travel

Beastie Boys Book

Beastie Boys Book
Author: Michael Diamond
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 598
Release: 2020-05-12
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0571308066

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES, GRAMMY-NOMINATED BESTSELLER A SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, ROLLING STONE, AND ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR A panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself-by band members AD-ROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and more. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE 5-TIME EMMY NOMINATED, SPIKE JONZE-DIRECTED BEASTIE BOYS STORY 'One of the greatest music books ever published.' MAX PORTER Formed as a New York City hardcore band in 1981, Beastie Boys struck an unlikely path to global hip hop superstardom. Here is their story, told for the first time in the words of the band. Adam "AD-ROCK" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond offer revealing and very funny accounts of their transition from teenage punks to budding rappers; their early collaboration with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin; the almost impossible-to-fathom overnight success of their debut studio album Licensed to Ill; that album's messy fallout; their break with Def Jam, move to Los Angeles, and rebirth as musicians and social activists, with the genre-defying masterpiece Paul's Boutique. For more than twenty years, this band has had a wide-ranging and lasting influence on popular culture. With a style as distinctive and eclectic as a Beastie Boys album, Beastie Boys Book upends the typical music memoir. Alongside the band narrative you will find rare photos, original illustrations, a cookbook by chef Roy Choi, a graphic novel, a map of Beastie Boys' New York, mixtape playlists, pieces by guest contributors, and many more surprises. 'Memoir, graphic novel, cookbook, photo-journal, love letter, elegy: this vast, unwieldy, marvellous book, narrated, like the band's songs, scatter-gun style by the two surviving Beastie Boys, is as original, uncategorisable and attention-grabbing as their music.' SUNDAY TIMES (BOOK OF THE YEAR) 'Wide-ranging and unorthodox . . . [a] treat . . . insightful about the group's shifting music and are expert yarn-spinners, homing in on telling vignettes rather than doling out a straightforward history . . . shot through with yearning and melanchonly.' GUARDIAN (BOOK OF THE YEAR) 'Here is their story, told for the first time in the words of the ban With a style as distinctive and eclectic as a Beastie Boys album, Beastie Boys Book upends the typical music memoir . . . Our clear winner for Book of the Year.' ROUGH TRADE (BOOK OF THE YEAR) 'The Beasties didn't play by the rules during their career, and this memoir by surviving members Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz doesn't either . . . hiliarious, at times heartwarming.' ROLLING STONE (BOOK OF THE YEAR)

Dust & Grooves

Dust & Grooves
Author: Eilon Paz
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1607748703

A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.

How to Wreck a Nice Beach

How to Wreck a Nice Beach
Author: Dave Tompkins
Publisher: Melville House
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2011-11-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1612190936

The history of the vocoder: how popular music hijacked the Pentagon's speech scrambling weapon The vocoder, invented by Bell Labs in 1928, once guarded phones from eavesdroppers during World War II; by the Vietnam War, it was repurposed as a voice-altering tool for musicians, and is now the ubiquitous voice of popular music. In How to Wreck a Nice Beach—from a mis-hearing of the vocoder-rendered phrase “how to recognize speech”—music journalist Dave Tompkins traces the history of electronic voices from Nazi research labs to Stalin’s gulags, from the 1939 World’s Fair to Hiroshima, from artificial larynges to Auto-Tune. We see the vocoder brush up against FDR, JFK, Stanley Kubrick, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Kraftwerk, the Cylons, Henry Kissinger, and Winston Churchill, who boomed, when vocoderized on V-E Day, “We must go off!” And now vocoder technology is a cell phone standard, allowing a digital replica of your voice to sound human. From T-Mobile to T-Pain, How to Wreck a Nice Beach is a riveting saga of technology and culture, illuminating the work of some of music’s most provocative innovators.