Russell Simmons Returns To 160 Varick Street, '90s Home Of Def Jam

Back in the 1990s, the very building where WNYC Radio is located -- 160 Varick Street, in the so-called "Hudson Square" area of Manhattan -- was home to the offices of Def Jam Records. Def Jam was, and continues to be, the famed hip-hop label co-founded by Russell Simmons, who by the '90s had already brought us acts like Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, Run DMC and and LL Cool J.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of Def Jam Records by Russell Simmons and his partner Rick Rubin. In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Simmons reflects on his old Def Jam stomping ground, talks about those early years at the helm of hip hop's most influential label, and looks back 20 years to some of the most important hip-hop albums of 1994.

Interview Highlights

Russell Simmons, on how he became aware of Rick Rubin in the 1980s:

Before I met Rick [Rubin], I produced quite a few records, including Run DMC's first three albums. I had already been in rap. I had Run DMC, and I had Whodini, and I had the Funky Four [Plus One], and I had Jimmy Spicer -- I managed a lot of bands. And then [Rick] liked Rock Box and King of Rock, and he produced a record that really blew my mind -- I heard it on the radio, "It's Yours" by T La Rock. It stood out like a sore thumb. It was such a brilliant piece of work in the midst of a lot of stuff that was not so great. 

 On the Run DMC collaboration with Aerosmith on their 1986 version of "Walk This Way": 

It was Rick's idea to get Aerosmith. It was [Jam Master] Jay's idea to produce Toys In The Attic. Toys in the Attic -- we didn't know what it was. We would scratch the names of the artists off the record. We didn't know Aerosmith from a can of paint. We knew that beat. The guitar would play a little bit when we f----ed up. We thought we'd write a song that would fit on top of that beat. We played it for Rick, and he said, why don't just get Aerosmith? And we said, get who? We didn't like the rest of the album, so we understood that the group's name was Aerosmith and the record's name was Walk This Way through Rick. And Rick, having grown up on them and loving them so much, it was a big thrill to him to have them in the studio. Or at least have them in the bathroom of the studio, because they were getting high the whole time. 

On the early collision of punk rock and rap before widespread acceptance of hip hop: 

There was a moment that punk rock and hip-hop We went on tour with Kurtis Blow in 1980 with The Clash. We played the Peppermint Lounge and the Mud Club and the Ritz and the World and all the downtown places that all the punk rock artists performed as well. We were not accepted early on, from anybody but the punk rock and the real urban community. Not even the urban community liked us really. Truth is, they hated us.

Black record executives, black executives, or anybody who was not stuck in the 'hood didn't understand why the voice was so important. They really rejected it. It reminded them of realities they were trying to escape. The music pushed buttons in black people that they didn't like. Black radio was like, "All music and no rap!" It was the underbelly of society, and we gave voice to the voiceless.