Complex CCO Noah Callahan-Bever named new EVP at Def Jam

[KENNY DA COOKER]

Are they turning Def Jam into a media company or something? Does NCB know anything about producing music...

Did Lyor know about producing music?

Did Steve Bartels?

Did Joey Manda?

Did Julie Greenwald?

All these people were executives at Def jam whom never wrote a song much less operated a beat machine

This has NOTHING to do with art

And everything to do with COMMERCE

 

[Fani Willis fan]

Culture Vulture era

Complex dude gonna sign nothing but hypebeast rappers

 

[Vilify]

its more about the legacy and name

at least from what i remember growing up I always looked at Def Jam as the "HIP HOP" label...they dont seem like they're ever gonna get back to that though

That era is dead.

 

[boskey]

Did Lyor know about producing music?

Did Steve Bartels?

Did Joey Manda?

Did Julie Greenwald?

All these people were executives at Def jam whom never wrote a song much less operated a beat machine

This has NOTHING to do with art

And everything to do with COMMERCE

I didn't ask if he was a musician I asked what he knew about producing records. All those names you mentioned started young on the music side and joined Def Jam on the ground level before they got promoted up. NCB has spent 20 years in journalism and is now a music exec...thats different.

This move implies they want to turn Def Jam into a digital "content" company rather than a music company...

 

[CashmereThoughts]

who cares. DJ been over

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet..

It's like...I see your resume..but im not seeing it.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Did Lyor know about producing music?

Did Steve Bartels?

Did Joey Manda?

Did Julie Greenwald?

All these people were executives at Def jam whom never wrote a song much less operated a beat machine

This has NOTHING to do with art

And everything to do with COMMERCE

What's Julie Greenwald's story?

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

I didn't ask if he was a musician I asked what he knew about producing records. All those names you mentioned started young on the music side and joined Def Jam on the ground level before they got promoted up. NCB has spent 20 years in journalism and is now a music exec...thats different.

This move implies they want to turn Def Jam into a digital "content" company rather than a music company...

Nope wrong again.....All these people were brought to Def Jam for thier expertise in the world of COMMERCE..nothing "musical" within thier DNA

Lyor Cohen was a BANKER before joining Def Jam

Steve Bartels was into Business Management for 20 plus years before becoming CEO of the Def Jam music group

and Julie Greenwald double majored in Political Science and Economics before being hired by Lyor as head of promotions in the late 80s...

And you act as if these PEOPLE are any diffrent than NCB (noel callahan bever) ....

Bever's digital content expertise serves the COMMERCE aspect of DEF JAM which has always been it's priority versus the music

so ain't a damn thing DIFFERENT about this hiring ...

 

[Wear My Dawg's Hat]

Are there any meaningful black execs leading record companies like Def Jam anymore?

 

[DanielAlfredsson]

From what I've read on Noah's thoughts on rap, they likely moreso mirror a purist's view than trendy Soundcloud rappers . And Paul Rosenberg is literally an old underground MC.

L.A. Reid was an R&B guy at heart and how he ran the label showed that.

 

[Real N Quotes]

U must be under 30....

Cause that is not true

Can't really call it a takeover since Def Jam got its start with Rick Rubin in his NYU dorm room with his partner Russell Simmons

Rick stayed with Def jam till late 1988 when this guy took over with the backing of mobster Michael Franceze long before the sale to Island\Universal

Exactly Lyor ran Def Jam for 20 years

 

[TheRtist]

Did Lyor know about producing music?

Did Steve Bartels?

Did Joey Manda?

Did Julie Greenwald?

All these people were executives at Def jam whom never wrote a song much less operated a beat machine

This has NOTHING to do with art

And everything to do with COMMERCE

producing isnt making beats necessarily

Suge Knight, P.Diddy, LA Reid are EXECUTIVE Producers

 

[QU Hectic]

Now that’s what I’m talking about. We have an ex member from some aspiring boy band that never took off leading the Mecca of hip hop labels. I’m about to buy the next def jam release first day it drops

 

[Anerdyblackguy]

I wonder if a black college dropout would get this same opportunity?

Spoiler

I already know the answer

 

[Piff Perkins]

He was a very good hip hop journalist. One of the guys I always enjoyed reading or watching. Def Jam making...interesting moves lately. They see Interscope and Atlantic doing well, among others, want a piece of the pie again. But my bet is that they're going to fukk this up. Knowing a lot about rap music doesn't mean you should run a label. In fact it's often a hindrance, because the guys who "know a lot about hip hop" often end up spending their entire career focused on "what's selling/popular/the wave/etc in hip hop today." These guys always end up reading trends and responding months later with a retread.