"The Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons And Rick Rubin"
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I have to admit that I have never taken Rap or Hip-Hop seriously. It has taken me over twenty years to finally appreciate Disco. However, the importance of all three genres on current music today cannot be disregarded. Ironically, Alex Ogg is an English writer specializing in the purely American, rap and hip hop. He is the author of "The Hip Hop Years" and has vast print credits. It takes a few pages to get past his dry, English writing; after all, he is talking about hip hop and rap but in subsequent chapters the book get into more mainstream English. The book starts out with a very good history of hip hop and its origins in rap. Set in New York City in the late ‘70s, the reader is introduced to Russell Simmons, his family and associates. Chapter Two is entitled "The Odd Couple," and it couldn’t be a more appropriate title. Rubins, a long haired ,Jewish punk rocker from Long Island was an enigma himself. Ogg presents some good evidence of the parallels between punk and rap in this chapter. Another great part of these chapters is the lamplight this time period gave to indie music. Tons of references are made to local and small labels whose genealogy would ultimately lead to a major label. Rubin was the roommate of Adam Horovitz (The Beastie Boys) and this chapter chronicles how Simmons and Rubin met and formed their alliance. The next chapter gives a life narrative of James Todd Smith, LL Cool J from St Albans in Queens. Again we learn here (and throughout the book) that it is Simmons who is the businessman and Rubin, the creative influence. It is during this time that Def Jam really started to become serious competition with the big boys. Many of Def Jam’s employees and those associated with the labels graduated to the larger labels. The Beastie Boys became the first discernibly white group of hip hop/rap performers. Their rise to celebrity is covered in the next chapter. The group’s underground hit (and one of my favorites) "Cookie Puss" is mentioned in this chapter and it continues on to chronicle the group’s rise. In the next chapter Ogg goes on to give an excellent defense of Public Enemy and their perceived racist lyrics. Is it their racism or our own, the argument is thoroughly compelling and gave me pause as to my own ignorance of rap and hip hop. Then Ogg goes on to proclaim Public Enemy equivalent of The Beatles and Sex Pistols in the late 20th century, and I’m reminded why I don’t really listen to a lot of hard core rap. According to Chuck D and, to a certain extent the author, Spike Lee couldn’t have made "Do The Right Thing" or "Macolm X" without Public Enemy’s music. Many in these middle chapters seem to overlook the fact that timing was everything. Hip hop couldn’t have evolved twenty years prior to this timeframe, it was not just time for the hip hop community, but for all American society to come to gripes with a burgeoning ethnic appreciation. The book doesn’t get into the darker side of hip hop until about Chapter 8, telling the various tales of Slick Rick and some of his escapades and incarcerations. Some of these incidents are also documented in the 1994 movie "The Show." Until this chapter the book remains very innocuous and above board. These next chapters hone in on the rappers and artists themselves, which is a refreshing change from the first half of the book. Chapter 9 covers the mid-eighties and nineties and goes back and forth with no real chronological order. The HBO Def Jam shows are briefly talked about. It is within this timeframe that Def Jam, already an established house, starts to move more towards the established businesses that are eager to take it over. Chapter 11 finds a more domesticated Simmons, now only a basic executive and sometimes political activist. We pretty much lose track of Rubin after a succession of missteps in Chapter 7, but he has bounced back producing many other artists in a broad variety of genres. Unfortunately, most of the criminal escapades of the Def Jam artists boil down to nothing more than petty street altercations. Which do you have more respect for, organized crime or disorganized crime? Throughout this book Ogg has some great sociological analysis of hip hop and its significance on music and culture today. The best parts of this book don’t lie in its subjects as much as it does in its insight of them. I read it more for the juicy stuff, but came away with some great introspect and thought. If you are an infantile hip hop listener such as myself, this is a great historical reference and offers up some good perceptions into the industry and its ultimate effect on our society. |
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