Definitive Jux Shuts Down: A Pop & Hiss Recap

Definitive Jux, the NYC hip hop record label that counted El-P, Company Flow, Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox and others, has pretty much dismantled, announced El-P recently on the company website. Def Jux was a foundation in underground New York hip hop for many years, and should be heralded in its apparent demise. Luckily, the City of Angels helps do so, with a tribute post on Pop and Hiss, the L.A. Times music blog. An excerpt:

For a generation weaned on hard-core but turned off by the genre’s descent into corporate yacht rap, Def Jux offered a safe port in a sea of sterility. Unapologetically intellectual but never egg-headed, the label refused to dumb things down or make concessions, and in that (cold) vein, it bore a closer resemblance to such Golden Age heroes as KRS-One and Public Enemy than almost anything else over the last decade…

…By the time El-P announced the label’s partial closure/extended hiatus last week, most acknowledged that Def Jux’s zenith was at least a half-decade in the past. Yet its impact remains incalculable, and its place is forever secured in the pantheon of all-time great hip-hop labels, independent or otherwise. With no logical successor, the label’s demise leaves a crater in the rap world. It will be sorely missed.

Well done L.A. Check out the entire posting, Farewell Def Jux: A recap of the NYC label’s finest moments.

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