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Island Def Jam, the iconic label that brought acts like Rihanna, Jay Z, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey to the world and more, has dissolved after East Coast Label Group president and CEO Barry Weiss stepped down Tuesday.
According to Variety, the label will separate with the Motown label after moving to Los Angeles. Universal Music head Lucian Grainge believes that the label will hit the success that it had in the past by "re-establishing the label."
"At UMG, our labels are empowered to be entrepreneurial and take creative risks," he said. "By re-establishing Def Jam, Island and Motown as standalone labels within the UMG family. We're positioning them to recapture the uniqueness of their brands and serve artists with the singularity of vision, focus and creativity that was at the core of their original success."
Grange says that Weiss has done a great job leading Def Jam and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
"Barry is a terrific music executive who led our East Coast labels during a critical time of transition. I can't say enough about his contributions to our labels or to thank him enough."
Irv Gotti, who has voiced pushed for a presidency for Def Jam in the past, voiced his opinions about the recent change on his Instagram page.
"I been telling people that the powers that be. Don't care about Def Jam," he said."I feel like they will let that label just DIE! Take all the big artist on it. And work them still. But kill the LABEL! And to me. It's so f****d up. DEF JAM is the f*****g LIGHT OF HOPE for artist like Jay Z. DMX. Jeezy. Ja Rule. Nas. Fabulous. YG. It was a label created for the HIP HOP CULTURE!! But the people running the show now. Could care fucking less about our CULTURE. They are not Russell. Rick Rubin. Lyor. Kevin Liles or Jay Z. And they don't wanna put someone in there that will represent and hold down the fucking LOGO AND CULTURE the right way. Makes me physically sick. Def Jam means something to me. Means something to our CULTURE! And they don't give a f***!! Let me stop!! #ilovedefjam #ilovehiphopculture #youcannotstophiphip #f***yall"
Currently the label houses Jhene Aiko, August Alsina, YG, and 2 Chainz.
Source: variety.com
