Smooth track from John West , a Los Angeles based artist who specialized in vocals . He recently signed to Def Jam and is just starting to establish himself in the industry and teams up with Pusha T to release Lovely .



Download: John West - Lovely ft. Pusha T

In honor of Def Jam's quarter century in the business, XXL chose some of its present and past artists to be on a commemorative cover:

"XXL’s new issue will include memorable tales from the MCs about the famed label, along with a complete discography of Def Jam releases and a comprehensive timeline of the brand’s biggest moments. Behind the scenes masterminds, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles sit for the first time to share their memories and Rick Rubin also takes a look back at the legacy of Def Jam.

Other features in the issue include stories on Clipse, Kid Cudi, Birdman, Juvenile and B.G."

via NR

Two influential men in Hip Hop talk of their Def Jam memories...

XV was back in NY to honor Warren G and bring a little west coast feelto the pre party, seeing as he was the closet one to that side it was only right. It’s always good to see the homies XV and Seven and that also means theres another episode of “That Boy From Kansas” coming soon…I told yall we could kidnap a rapper and high jack him to doing a series with us lol.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors are right around the corner…well its being taped today but it will air sometime in October but last night is when the fesitivities really began. Thanks to VH1/Def Jam and DJ Enuff with the help of the Heavy Hitters I was able to enjoy myself and see a few familiar faces at the same time. Here are some vids of Torae and Skyzoo doing their tribute to a couple of the dopest emcees from the Def Jam roster…enjoy and their will be more footage with Mickey Factz as Slick Rick, XV as Warren G(didn’t even Know that was Def Jam) and J Cole as you should already know Jay-Z.

Slick Mick the Ruler started the night off smooth with renditions of Childrens Story and Mona Lisa and then went into one of his newer joints Whos Hotter. Honestly I wish we could have gotten a full Mickey experience but its was still cool non the less.

It’s always good to see one of your favorite new artist showing love to one of your favorites of all time. In this case it’s even better seeing as one is signed to the others label. When I got to the show and found out how each arist was honoring a def jam legend it was already known who J Cole was gonna portray the only thing I was unsure about is which song he was gonna pick.

Cool Concept, the new pay their respect through imitation of the old (?). J. Cole was Jay-Z, Torae & Skyzoo were Method Man & Redman, XV was Warren G and Mickey Factz was Slick Rick.



So Im looking to get a fake i.d, I cant keep missing these great ass shows because my mommy decided NOT to have me when she was 14!!

AND please spot fellow DWND. com Team Member SaintVil in the frame.

VIA MADOnly

THEHEAVYHITTERS & VH1bring you the VH1 HipHop Honors Pre Party w/ @JCOLENC @TORAE @THEREALSKYZOO @MICKEYFACTZ @XtotheV at NYC

Via IslandDefJam.com


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Big Boi Speaks on the Sir Lucious Leftfoot album from www.mauricegarland.com on Vimeo.

1/2 of Outkast says his album, Sir Luscious Left Foot: Son Of Chico Dusty is complete.. If you aint know, he will be releasing it (pause) on Def Jam.. Will he get the same push (pause) that Fab got?

Spotted @ RR

from Hiphodx:
Def Jam revealed today that they intend on re-packaging 2001’s Blueprint album, along with 2002’s Blueprint 2 as one, to coincide with his Blueprint 3 release…

Retailers will display the combined album package at a reported discounted price, furthering Jay’s overall catalog scans with Def Jam. The work (titled The Blueprint Collection) will also include a collector’s item poster.

That seem kind of foul, and while Def Jam may be bitter with Jay-Z to paraphrase Biggie Damn why the tryna stick him for his paper?? SMH

-Tori Cheyenne