CNN’s article on Def Jam

A recipe that includes a nondescript New York University dorm room, a heavyset Jewish kid from Long Island and a street-wise black guy from Queens seems like an unlikely one to cook up musical history.
But when Def Jam Records came on the scene a quarter of a century ago, it did just that and more. What began as a boutique indie label quickly caught the ear of a generation and elevated a style of music that had existed primarily in the clubs and block parties of the city boroughs into a thriving new genre.

Read the rest of it here. A very useful timeline is also included in the article.

Via Spine Magazine.