Today (October 4, 2009) is the 52^nd birthday of hip hop pioneer and business mogul Russell Simmons. He is the older brother of Joseph "Run" Simmons of the rap group Run-DMC and a co-founder of the Def Jam recording label. Simmons joined Rick Rubin back in 1984 to start Def Jam. The first single technically released with a Def Jam Recordings logo was T La Rock & Jazzy Jay "It's Yours". The first releases with a Def Jam Recordings catalog number were LL Cool J's "I Need a Beat", and the Beastie Boys', "Rock Hard", both in 1984. Those singles sold well, eventually leading to a distribution deal with CBS Records' (which would later become Sony Music Entertainment) Columbia Records the following year. Then the first full-length album released by Def Jam Recordings was Radio by LL Cool J in November of 1985. I remember buying that album shortly after seeing LL Cool J's brief cameo in the film Krush Groove. The Def Jam label was on its way to becoming something special.

There were a couple albums released by Def Jam in the coming years which made major impact on not only the rap music landscape, but the entire pop music industry. First, in 1986, the Beastie Boys released Licensed to Ill. This was the first rap album to top the Billboard album chart and is generally regarded as one of the top rap albums of all time. I enjoy several songs from this album, but the video that I especially remember is for the song "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" which was the first single released from the album. It is not a particularly good song and the Beastie Boys themselves are not even big fans of it not performing it at their live shows since 1987. Either way, it is memorable and this week's first Flashback Video is "Fight For Your Right" by The Beastie Boys...

The second is LL Cool J's sophomore 1987 release titled Bigger and Deffer. This album reached #3 on the Billboard album charts and continued rap's move into the mainstream. It included one of the first successful rap ballads with the song "I Need Love" but it is another song which really grabbed most people's attention. The song is "I'm Bad" and it included Russell Simmons as the executive producer. This week's second Flashback Video is "I'm Bad" by LL Cool J...

Def Jam became just one piece in Simmons' corporation, Rush Communications, which included a management company, a clothing company called Phat Farm, a movie production house, television shows such as Def Comedy Jam, a magazine, and an advertising agency. Simmons sold his stake in the record company for $100 million to Universal Music Group in 1999. I have always considered Russell Simmons a business role model and wanted to take this opportunity to wish him a happy birthday as well as recognize some of Def Jam's early accomplishments.

That will do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.