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Def Jam, Inc. : Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Influential Hip-Hop Label
Stacy Gueraseva Average Rating: 
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If you like "Def Jam, Inc. : Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Influential Hip-Hop Label", you might also like ...
| Customer Reviews 1-5 of 9 | NEXT >> |
2007-04-04I am extremly happy that there is a book that depicts the orgination and rise of hip-hop however the sentence stucture is quite rough to get through. The reader can flow through paragraphs of events for a couple of pages however, when meeting a new character, the author has a tendancy to link various people and companies and sometimes events to that one character, within two sentences. Therefore, it takes the reader some time to figure out if the author is actualy talking about the new character or the other items that were linked to the new character.
2006-11-05READ THAT BOOK TOOK ME BACK TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS
2006-05-09Rarely do you find a book about the history of the music industry that actualy works to make you feel as if you are a part of what is going on. DEF JAM INC. by Stacy Gueraseva is an inspirational take on the creation of not only a new breed of record label, but the ushering in of a completely mindblowing era of music, musicians and moguls. Being a musician I was utterly inspired by this insiders perspective on the rise, fall and subsequent ressurection of the legendary DEF JAM label. The reader is imediately drawn into the lives of this incredable cast of "real-life" charachters... You will feel as if you're in that cramped NYU dorm room with Rick and his crew while he's cooking up his scheme for releasing music for and by the local hip-hop DJ. You'll be there in the clubs with Mr. Russell Simmons, hard working and smooth-talking his way to the top. DEF JAM INC. gives you never before seen insight into the heart of the label durring it's tough starts and shows the industry from the artist's perspective in ways I've yet to experience elsewhere. Without ruining the read, I just have to say, if you love great music and want to know where hip-hop came from, DEF JAM INC. is an invalueable tool on the path to hip-hop enlightenment... A musician's must have.
2006-05-08As the sister of the author and the designer of the cover for "Def Jam, Inc.," I have witnessed firsthand the creation of this book and I feel compelled to leave a comment. There is a reason this book was called "Book of the Month" by Maxim Magazine, and a "fast-paced history of ingenuity, scandal and pure Hip Hop" by Source Magazine. There is a reason it was selected for the New York Public Library's prestigeous 77th annual "Books for the Teen Age" list.
And that reason is- "Def Jam, Inc." is amazing. It acomplishes the most challenging of all tasks- to both entertain and inform. It is a bonafide page-turner, the kind that conjures up cinematic imagery. To get the stories for this book, Stacy had to track down reclusive recording artists like Slick Rick and get them to open up about the past. She spent time with Rick Rubin at his house in LA. She sat in conference rooms for hours, interviewing Lyor Cohen. She rode in limos with Russell Simmons, getting answers from him in between his endless phone calls and emails. And that was the easy part.
The research alone was a monumental task, one that would make many others give up. And the book-writing proccess required numerous all-nighters and months of blood, sweat and tears. It is hard for someone who hasnt witnessed the writing proccess to fully understand just how much works goes into it.
But herein lies the payoff- 300 plus pages of remarkable stories, first-person accounts, anecdotes, thrilling hip hop history-- the life and times of a fascinating and exciting record label. The book is written with energy, intelligence, style, passion and respect for the subject. It is a thorough account of every corner of Def Jam's rise- from its executives, to its artists, to even its famous album covers. It is not sensationalistic pulp. Reading "Def Jam, Inc." has opened my eyes to the infinite possibilty for personel acomplishment. It is a story of the American Dream like no other. Read it and let inspire you to be better and to live your life to its fullest.
2006-05-08The story of the rise of Def Jam is a fascinating part of hip hop history because, in many respects, it layed the groundwork for hip hop as we know it. Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin are arguably the Wright Brothers of hip hop because they took an artistic genre (rap) and contrary to popular corparate oppinion - which did not beleive rap would be anything more than a passing fad - made it fly. This book details the rise of Def Jam from its beggining in Rick Rubin's NYU dorm room to the present.
Even though the story is very intresting, the book is poorly written on a number of levels. First, Stacy Gueraseva worked as the Editor-in-Chief for one of Simmons' magazines and her bias to her former employer clearly shows through. There is very little critical analysis of the negative side of this company (e.g. its glorification of violence, guns and the objectification of women).
Second, Gueraseva often fails to tell the entire story of specific charachters in the book. For example, the most compelling figure in Def Jam's history is Lyor Cohen, who was with the company for over 20 years and figures prominantly throughout the entire story. Unfortunately, the author does not fully explain his personel history (like she does with Rubin and Simmons). We get only tidbits of his personel bio - e.g. he is Israeli, he went to the unviersity of Miami, he is a "family man" now. He is obviosuly diffrent than most people in the Def Jam story but for some unknown reason, the author does not elaborate on his personel story. You get to the point where you want to yell at her "ok, tell us more about him!" but she never does.
additinally, the author spends a lot of time detailing Def Jam's rise in the 1980s but only gives the post-1995 era a short look. I feel the rise of Jay-Z to Precident of Def Jam is one of the most intresting developments of Def Jam Era but we only get about 3 paragraphs discussing this part.
finaly, the writing is extremly average. The sentence stucture was repetitive and there were severeal grammatical errors. It was quite noticable and took away from the flow of the story.
In all, even though this is an intresting story, it deserved a better researched and written history.
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| Editorial Review |
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.
If you like "Def Jam, Inc. : Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Influential Hip-Hop Label", you might also like ...
