I HAVE been a fan of the Def Jux label since day one. From the time when I was pulling Mr. Lif’s I Phantom out of the bins to purchase, to the release of El-P’s first solo opus, Fantastic Damage, to Aesop Rock’s Daylight EP and Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein; I was a “Jukie fan.” To me, it was the brand of high-minded, working-class, complex, layered-imagery hip-hop that I had begin to love out of the underground, a sub-genre of music that epitomized skill and writing.

As dense as it was, the label’s sound aesthetic fit me to a tee and had me open. Ever since the days of Rawkus — it seems that a Def Jux article cannot be penned without the reference to the razor blade — I have searched for a roster as completely true to hip-hop’s old school while still pushing the genre’s artistic boundaries. Def Jux has been the label that has been widely consistent, from my backpacker standpoint. (Stones Throw, overall, is right there as well.)

Bringing along RJD2 for the ride and lately Cool Calm Pete and now Dizzee Rascal, I am ever confident that El-Producto’s vision of the label has remained true to his morose, futuristic hip-hop, mindset. Earlier last week Def Jux released the first single off the forthcoming Dizzee Rascal album Math’s and English, entitled “Where da G’s”.

Photo credit: So Much Silence