KRS-One Droppin' Knowledge on Def Jam

KRS-One recently got interviewed outside of the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors tribute to Def Jam (taped this week but airing on October 13th @ 9:00 PM) and gave us his opinion on the label. I agree with him on everything he said here. Def Jam was an incredible label over the years giving us mad talent including: LL Cool J, Run DMC, Method Man, Redman, DMX, Joe Budden, Ruff Ryders, Rocafella Records (with Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek), and now recently Ghostface Killah and NaS, to name a few. The issue is that they also ruined some of these artists.

Look at Joe Budden for example. How could you shelf that kind of raw talent??? They completely fucked him. If you look at his first album, he had tracks like "Pump It Up" and "Fire" with Busta Rhymes. Those tracks are not Joe Budden tracks. That kind of hip-hop is not what he was built for. Look at LL Cool J getting fucked by them recently just because he's older (don't get me wrong, I'm not that big of an LL fan, but it's still fucked up). Look at Ghostface Killah's new album "The Wizard of Poetry". This dude had to come out with a completely R&B oriented album in order to sell some units for Def Jam. Look at Method Man & Redman not getting the fucking promotion that they deserve. Look at them making Jay-Z their president and then bullshitting the media about his termination when they realized he sucked at being President. Look at NaS making a crossover album with Damien Marley (not that there's anything wrong with NaS doing this, but let's be real his sales weren't up to par recently so they need him to do something different, something that is not pure hip-hop).

Def Jam's line up of artists now is laughable. They've got Young Jeezy, Fabolous, Rick Ross, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, The Dream, Amerie, Chrissette Michele, Jerimih, Rihanna, Ne-Yo, The Killers, Fall Out Boy and Bon Jovi. WHOA!!! DID I JUST WRITE THAT BON JOVI IS ON DEF JAM????? Yes I did. Go to their web site and check that shit out. This isn't a hip-hop label. It's a music label. I can't knock them for their business strategies. Who am I to know how to make money in the current condition of this fucked up music industry? All I'm saying is that Def Jam has done more to hurt pure hip-hop than to preserve it. They are a "for-profit" company and that's the bottom line. Can I hate them for that? Absolutely not. Can I hate VH1 for celebrating their label as hip-hop's savior over the years? Yes I can.

Peep KRS-One droppin' knowledge below...