Posted by bryne on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 3:00 PM (EST)
Yesterday, Shabooty reported that seminal indie hip-hop label Definitive Jux would be closing its doors. While the blog cited "many of their sources," there'd been no official word from label head El-P pertaining to the matter. Today, the site has posted a statement from El-P regarding the label's future:
"This year, a decade after starting DEF JUX and after overseeing the releases of some incredible albums including the forthcoming release of my dear late and great friend Camu Tao's brilliant "KING OF HEARTS" LP, I'm stepping away from my duties as artistic director for the label to concentrate on what I love most: being a producer and an artist full time. ... This means change for JUX. Of course we'll still have our website, we will still sell our catalog, merch and more as well as bring you news and updates on all our projects and artists. We will be releasing "KING OF HEARTS", a DEF JUX remix compilation, a 10 year anniversary retrospective and some other goodies. But then as a traditional record label DEF JUX will effectively be put on hiatus. We are not closing, but we are changing." Check out the full statement here. Over the years, Def Jux has released albums from the likes of Aesop Rock, Murs, Cage, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Mr. Lif and many others. News (22 comments)
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Dante3000 (rich) (February 3, 2010)
Unfortunate. There have been some great releases on this label. 1+ Reply
slowstupidhungry (February 3, 2010)
I always thought El P was a horrible producer. Actually, in general, what makes most "indie" hip hop so shitty (besides the fact that the MCs usually just try to rhyme as many long words as possible without taking coherency or meaning into account) is the totally lame production most of the shit has. When the producers try to do "traditional" beats, it usually sounds like the background of a local used auto parts commercial, and when they do their own thing, it's usually even worse. 4+ Replies
chadreligion (February 3, 2010)
The last two RJD2 records, the new Aesop Rock 'None Shall Pass', and Delicatessin have been some of the best hip hop releases in the past decade. Sucks that they are taking a break, but hey, he's gotta make some real money, I guess. 3+ Replies
DrGunn (February 3, 2010)
this is terrible news. i've been on a huge el-p bender lately, and he's put out some excellent shit (particularly can ox) on that label. that said, their online store sucks and the last album i bought there (def jux presents 4) wouldn't download and the support service never answered my email.
jimmynorville (February 3, 2010)
generic comment that this is PUNKnews.org, not Hiphopnews.org
bytheslice (February 3, 2010)
Mr. Lif flippin' rules, and his Def. Jux output has all been rad. Sad to see this label scale back.
eran_zombis (February 3, 2010)
I don't like much rap/hip hop besides standard white boy 90s throwback, but this is interesting hip hop with middle east/turkish influenced beats/samples/whatever. | Features
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ohh u rite