the changeing of the gaurd in hip hop has always been interesting to me wether it was Melle Mel/KRS or anyone else you have the elder statesman refusing to give up their crown even though a newer and fresher style is breathing down his neck.

This gives some great insight as to how things went down behind closed doors for 2 teamates playin on the same team


http://www.egotripland.com/def-jam-publicist-bill-adler-early-years/

How did Run and LL Cool J get along?

Bill Adler: You ever see the movie Downhill Racer? It’s with Robert Redford, and he’s a downhill racer at a very high level. And at the end of the movie he wins this tough race. And he’s crossed the finish line and he’s breathing heavily and he’s smiling and he’s accepting congratulations. And it looks like he’s won. But the very next guy coming down the hill is moving at a record pace. So Redford is interrupted in the middle of his so-called victory lap. He’s thinking: this motherfucker might beat me. And he turns around and the next guy down the slopes is just about to beat him, but he trips and falls. And so Redford kind of breathes a sigh of relief, and goes on and takes his congratulations. That scene is a lot like what Run felt with LL. Run was Redford. LL was the next guy on the slopes. They were very competitive. And I think they had mixed feelings for each other. I think that LL admired Run a lot and looked up to him a lot. But also he was endlessly ambitious and was gonna do what he could to be king of the hill.

They used to battle in the office when we were at 1133 Broadway. This is in the middle of the day. These were both very kind of jumpy, high-energy guys. They called Run “Run” for a reason. He had that kind of energy. LL at 16 was jumping out of his skin. So the two of them in the same place at the same time – our little two-room office wasn’t big enough to hold the two of ’em. One day they started snapping on each other. And they went from room to room finishing each other’s snaps. It couldn’t be a two-line rap. If one of them came up with one line the next guy would come back with a rhyming insult to the first line. That’s how fast it was. And it was a game but it was pretty serious too. I don’t remember exactly how it ended. LL I think left the room and Run came over to me and said, “I don’t like that man.” But you could tell there was something in that. There was some recognition of young LL Cool J’s skills even in that statement. In the Def Jam book there’s a picture of a Rush/Def Jam basketball team at Madison Square Garden. They played a little game between halves, a charity basketball game. And you see LL standing next to Run. When we set up the picture they were separate. And then Run walked over to to LL and he said, “Let me stand next to my son”!

whereas LL caught up to Run in a far less time. i think Run wanted to test the solo waters however I don't know if he could have pulled it off.

thing is I love stories like this because it only makes LL's argument as the GOAT stand even more out, because he had to spit up against in his prime Run and not many cats could do that.

Run DMC ran things for a minute, however LL was his own creation..

LL and RUN didn't wait for either one to fall off or what have you they were battling from the get go they way it use to be back in the day.

both young LL being credited with being the first star of def jam
the man who built def jam
when def jam was started with run dmc money
i always wondered why run dmc never signed to def jam

That shit for real blew my mind. I KNEEEEEW they were on there, with the Russell Simmons connection n all else. Then I got that Def Jam 25 year album or whatever and was like "wait...seriously....why isn't there a SINGLE Run DMC song on here?????" then I looked it up and it said they were with Profile.

I think they were already signed to Profile by the time DJ came about tho

>I think they were already signed to Profile by the time DJ
>came about tho

rakim was even under rush management matter of fact the only group that wasnt and was big at the time (that i can think of) was nwa.

>rakim was even under rush management matter of fact the only
>group that wasnt and was big at the time (that i can think
>of) was nwa.

Nah, basically the only ones I can think of not on Def Jam were Eric & Ra, Whodini & Run-DMC.

Ice-T. BDP. Too Short. Salt n Pepa. Kid N Play. 2 Live Crew. I mean, we could be here all day but I hear your point.

Before they were on Def Jam, I think at least "Unfinished Business" carried the RUSH management logo (maybe "Strictly Business" as well). I can't check now...

kurtis blow,nice and smooth,epmd,will smith (yes he started with rush management),big daddy kane,de la soul,tribe called quest,brand nubian yeah rush had the game on lock for a long time

Around 1988, they even had a contract dispute with Profile to try to get off the label to sign with Def Jam. They ended the dispute by signing another 10 album (!?!?!?!) deal with them.

10 albums , damn.......so they still owe albums to profile

Run DMC Brought in, helped for his budget there. He DJ'd a party at there crib or something and word got back and its one of the storys of how he ended up on Profile.

truth is I don't think RUn DMC would have gotten the same response had they been on def jam. something tells me the best thing happen that could have

I think I've mentioned this before here but I was at a music-quiz at a pub once and one of the questions was about RUN DMC and a follow-up question was which label they were on. I assumed this was a trick-question because "everyone" thinks it's Def Jam whereas I know it was Profile so I was like "Ha, ha, I'm the only one that will know this".

Turns out that the correct answer was Def Jam and my complaints didn't help, my team lost out on a night of free beer with half a point. Next week, the game-leader admitted that I was right; he had checked (he could have done that the same night we lost but whatever) and bought me a beer as a consolation but that was too late; we should have won that shit!!!

.

Fuck a beer, give me my bragging rights!