Def Jam Anniversary Set Showcases the Early Years : “Def Jam Music Group Inc. 10th Year Anniversary”, *** 1/2, VARIOUS ARTISTSDef Jam

Russell Simmons didn’t invent rap any more than Sun Records’ Sam Phillips thought up rock ‘n’ roll, but they played such essential roles in nurturing the sounds that it is altogether reasonable to describe both as godfathers of their respective music.

Rap had been around the contemporary record scene for at least five years in 1984 when Simmons, an ambitious young man from a middle-class Queens, N.Y., neighborhood, saw enough potential in it to start Def Jam Records with Rick Rubin.

Simmons and Rubin--a New York University student from Long Island--were in their 20s and believed in rap at a time when most of the formal record industry thought it was just a fad.

“The purpose of this company is to educate people as to the value of real street music by putting out records that nobody in the business would distribute but us,” Simmons said at the time.

It was the same defiant spirit expressed in the ‘50s by Phillips--whose discoveries at Sun ranged from Elvis Presley to Jerry Lee Lewis--and the owners of the other small, independent labels, including Chess and Atlantic, that first showcased rock ‘n’ roll.

While Simmons was the more visible partner in the early days, Rubin was a hard-rock and rap fan whose work in the studio with LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys played a crucial part in building a bridge between the two styles. He produced Def Jam’s first hit, LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat,” for $700 in 1984. Sony Records was so impressed by the young team that it signed a multimillion-dollar pact with the pair.

Def Jam began its Columbia years impressively with albums by such notable rap figures as LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and, most important, Public Enemy, whose Chuck D. was the Bob Marley and Bob Dylan of rap.

Simmons’ management company also played an essential part in building industry respect and a strong commercial foundation for rap. Among the acts that joined Def Jam artists on the management roster: Run-DMC (which was led by Simmons’ brother Joseph), Kurtis Blow, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B & Rakim and Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

Rubin left Def Jam in 1988 to open what is now the American Recordings label and to concentrate on producing albums (his credits range from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty to Johnny Cash).

Simmons has continued to prosper. He has expanded Def Jam/Rush with a battery of new hit artists--including Warren G, Redman, Method Man and Montell Jordan--and moved aggressively into other areas, including HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” series. When the Columbia deal ran out, PolyGram paid $35 million in 1994 for half interest in the record label.

Despite the continued success of the label, the music hasn’t maintained the cutting-edge authority of Def Jam’s early years. Quite rightly, the 60-song, four-disc set focuses on those early years--showcasing more than two dozen tracks by LL Cool J, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys.

Bill Adler’s liner notes detail nicely the history of the label and its role in the promotion of rap as a major voice in contemporary pop culture.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).