Def Jam Unveil 30th Anniversary Logo And Tease Year-Long Plans

Pioneering hip hop label Def Jam Recordings has announced that the celebration of its 30th anniversary has officially begun with the launch of a new logo for use in 2014.

The label, now a part of the Universal Music Group, also revealed that its founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons will be involved with anniversary plans that they promise will continue for the entire year.

In a joint statement issued by Universal, Rubin and Simmons wrote: “It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago when we first put the Def Jam logo on a hip hop recording at an NYU dormitory. Since that time we have seen this homegrown American music grow from a local underground scene to a worldwide phenomenon.

"Today Def Jam remains the gold standard for taste, culture, and revolutionary thought. To quote the Chuck D line: 'Def Jam tells you who I am…'” 

The label is credited with having changed the face of the American music industry when it launched in 1984 and unleashed the sounds of LL Cool J, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy and helped hip hop replace country as the top selling music genre in the US in the '90s.

The label still houses an enviable roster of R&B artists through its various subsidiaries (Rock-A-Fella Records and Kanye West's GOOD Music, amongst others). More recent artists who have recorded for Def  Jam include Rihanna, The Roots, Nas, Frank Ocean, Big Sean and 2Chainz.

Along with the founders' statement, Universal also teased upcoming anniversary projects: "(We) have assembled a #DefJam30 team to work with many of its artists and innovators, from thirty years ago to today, on a number of projects celebrating and re-imagining three decades of credibility and distinction."

A Def Jam timeline has also now been unveiled on the label's site.