Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. I Need a Beat - LL Cool J
2. It's the Beat
3. Bring the Noise - Public Enemy
4. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
5. Rain, The - Oran "Juice" Jones
6. Going Back to Cali - LL Cool J
7. Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys
8. It's Yours - T la Rock
9. I Need Love - LL Cool J
10. Children's Story - Slick Rick
11. Gas Face, The - 3rd Bass (remix)
12. Fight the Power - Public Enemy
DISC 2:
1. Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
2. Gold Digger
3. Pop Goes the Weasel - 3rd Bass
4. Daddy's Little Girl - Nikki D
5. Room to Breathe - Downtown Science
6. Time 4 Sum Aksion - Redman
7. Slam
8. Deeper - (featuring Papa Juggy)
9. Crossover
10. Bring the Pain - Method Man
11. Hip Hop Junkies - Nice & Smooth
12. Regulate - Warren G - (featuring Nate Dogg)
DISC 3:
1. This is How We do It - Montell Jordan
2. Stand Up - Ludacris - (featuring Shawnna)
3. Holla Holla - Ja Rule
4. Touch Me Tease Me
5. I'll be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By - Method Man - (featuring Mary J. Blige)
6. Get Me Home - (featuring Blackstreet)
7. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
8. Get at Me Dog
9. Doin' It - LL Cool J
10. Da Rockwilder - Method Man/Redman
11. Party Up (Up in Here)
12. Tell 'Em - Erick Sermon
DISC 4:
1. 99 Problems
2. Thong Song
3. Just Friends (Sunny) - Musiq (Soulchild)
4. Put it on Me - Ja Rule
5. Is That Your Chick (The Lost Verses) - Memphis Bleek - (featuring Missy Elliott/Twista)
6. Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
7. Truth, The - Beanie Sigel
8. Oh Boy - Cam'ron - (featuring Juelz Santana)
9. Guess Who's Back - Scarface - (featuring Beanie Sigel)
10. What We Do - Freeway - (featuring Beanie Sigel)
11. Southern Hospitality - Ludacris - (featuring Pharrell Williams)
12. Jesus Walks - Kanye West
DISC 5:
1. Gold Digger - Kanye West - (featuring Jamie Foxx)
2. And Then What - Young Jeezy - (featuring Mannie Fresh)
3. There it Go (The Whistle Song) - Juelz Santana
4. Hustlin' - Rick Ross
5. Back Like That - Ghostface Killah
6. So Sick
7. Hip Hop is Dead - (featuring will.i.am)
8. Don't Feel Right - (featuring Maimouna Youssef)
9. Umbrella - Rihanna
10. Make Me etter - Fabolous
11. Shawty is da Sh*! - The-Dream
12. Put On - Young Jeezy - (featuring Kanye West)
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Beanie Sigel, Blackstreet, Jamie Foxx, Juelz Santana, Kanye West, Maimouna Youssef, Mannie Fresh, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Nate Dogg, Papa Juggy, Pharrell Williams, Pharrell, Shawnna, Twista, Will.I.Am | | Distributor: | n/a | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Liner Note Author: Bill Adler.
Photographers: Ricky Powell; Lionel Deluy; Albert Watson; Dean Karr; Clay Patrick McBride; Wayne Maser; Jules Allen; James Hamilton; Danny Clinch.
When Def Jam, the premier hip-hop label founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1995, it did so with a box set. It was a bold declaration from a label dedicated to a form of music once frequently dismissed as a fad. (Putting it in further perspective, the same year saw sets of similar weight documenting the Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, and Marvin Gaye.) Now 15 years later, Def Jam looks back on a catalog that is 25 years deep. The label's significance since the mid-'90s has only intensified, not just through its lasting classics, but also through its ceaseless ability to thrive commercially and (if less often) creatively. Ironically, Def Jam Recordings 25th Anniversary contains the same number of tracks as Def Jam Music Group Inc.: 10th Year Anniversary. It contains five discs instead of four, with only 12 songs on each disc, and each disc covers five years -- so, 1989-1993, an era of the label described in the liner notes as "ice cold" and "rudderless" by director of publicity Bill Adler, gets the same amount of attention as 1984-1988. The first box had 20 songs that are on this one as well -- big guns like "Paul Revere," "Bring the Noise," "Children's Story," "Going Back to Cali," and "This Is How We Do It," as well as moderate Yo! MTV Raps-era hits still deserving of attention (Nikki D's "Daddy's Little Girl," Boss' "Deeper," Nice & Smooth's "Hip Hop Junkies"). While it is debatable that the 1996-2009 material stacks up to earlier Def Jam, the cultural impact is undeniable, and there is no denying that the tracks from Jay-Z, the Roots, Scarface, Ghostface Killah, and Nas make perfect sense when considering the label's original aesthetic. For those who shake their heads at the soft latter-day pop-R&B (Ne-Yo's "So Sick," Rihanna's "Umbrella," the-Dream's "Shawty Is da Sh*!"), it is necessary to point out that Def Jam has had a foot in R&B since the '80s, when it was releasing singles by the likes of Oran "Juice" Jones (heard on disc one), Alyson Williams, and Tashan (whose 1986 2-step gem "Read My Mind" is missed here). Music obsessives can dream about what could have been, and how Def Jam blew a terrific opportunity to balance out the hits with the deeper but high-quality material. Regardless, this box is either a wake-up call or a reminder of just how immense the label has been for three decades. (A few mistakes: disc one, track one is LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells," not "I Need a Beat"; Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" and the remix of 3rd Bass' "The Gas Face," both released in 1989, are on the 1984-1988 disc.) ~ Andy Kellman
Editorial Reviews
Tied for #7 on the Reissues list of Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Village Voice (02/20/1996)
Ranked #2 on NME's `Compilations Of The Year' list for 1995.
NME
...Def Jam's courtship of major label music...helped create a pop-culture juggernaut, one that shredded conventions on television rather than on the indie circuit...not only captures the highlights of rap's premier label, but shows how hip-hop grew up before our eyes...
Musician (02/01/1996)
Bloody Essential - ...you can crash in here at random and...hear something that pipes more feeling, open intelligence, wild imagination and a simple sonic appeal into a couple of minutes than the whole of this week's...charts....The only real recommendation is capital letters saying LISTEN...
Melody Maker (12/02/1995)
10 (out of 10) - ...Def Jam...is probably the only record label in history that can truly claim to have altered the musical landscape both dramatically and permanently....this awesome collection...[is] an absolute must-steal for anyone with an interest in uncompromising, insurrectionary music....This, in short, is the s***...
NME (11/25/1995)
5 Stars - Indispensable - It's almost trite to say, but Def Jam is the most important black music label since Atlantic and Motown....The other astonishing thing about this wholly remarkable label is that it has continued to be vital and innovative throughout its 11-year history...
Q (01/01/1996)
7 - Flawed Yet Worthy - ...the stable that introduced hip-hop's new-school generation...presenting brash artists with trademark personae, 'round the way allegiances, and prodigious enough rhyme skills to last an entire album....Get this to hear hip-hop's conquest of pop play out on your stereo...
Spin (12/01/1995)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...a sound on the New York streets...the driving force behind the most musically influential--and financially succesful--new record label of the '80s....its initial breakthrough, its stormy maturation and, finally, its establishment as a major industry player...
Rolling Stone (12/14/1995)
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