Def Jam South Recording

In the 1990s, hip hop's main popularity moved from East Coast hip hop to Southern hip hop. Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam which is a New York-based label, wanted to capitalize off of the success that southern rap was having. He would recruit Scarface, who is a southern rap legend and member of the Geto Boys to be the head of the label. By 1999, the label was established. Also in 1999, an Atlanta DJ, Chris Luva Luva, would begin rapping under the moniker Ludacris. He would release his debut album Incognegro independently on his own record label Disturbing tha Peace label. Scarface would end up hearing the CD while he was visiting Atlanta. He quickly met a deal to distribute Ludacris and all of the releases by his DTP label. Ludacris would become the biggest star in the hip hop market and would lead the label to great heights. Despite this, Island Def Jam could not afford to finance the label anymore so they shut it down in 2003.In early 2005, Def Jam announced that they were relaunching the label and that Ludacris and DTP were returning along with new act Young Jeezy and his Corporate Thugz Entertainment label. Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy would release his debut album, which would go platinum and revive the label. New releases from the DTP camp kept the label on the radio and gained them more recognition than they ever had in their previous run. In 2006, they were able to reach a distribution deal with Slip-n-Slide Records to release albums from their artists signed from that point on. The success of Rick Ross made him the label's new flagship. In December 2005, Cash Money Records producer Mannie Fresh announced that he was leaving that label. Fresh was quickly signed on to become the new CEO of Def Jam South. Scarface would end up leaving the label in 2003, but ended up returning for a one-album deal. Ludacris is returning with his new album Theater of Mind in late 2008, while Rick Ross will be releasing his second album "Trilla" in early 2008 as well.