Def Jam was founded by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin in Simmons' dorm room at the City College of New York. The first releases on Def Jam Recordings were LL Cool J's "I Need A Beat" and the Beastie Boys' "Rock Hard," both in 1984. The singles sold well, eventually leading to a distribution deal with Columbia/CBS Records the following year. The first full-length album released by Def Jam Recordings was LL Cool J's Radio in December of 1985. A year later, Def Jam created a subisdary label, OBR Records. The label was for R&B artists. It's first artist signed was Oran "Juice" Jones, who enjoyed success with his hit single "The Rain".
Lyor Cohen became president of Def Jam in 1988, after winning a power struggle with Rubin, who would shortly thereafter leave the company to form Def American in 1989. CBS Records, meanwhile, was sold to electronics giant Sony as the decade ended and by 1991 had been was re-christened into Sony Music Entertainment.
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