EXCLUSIVE: Def Jux Has Folded

Definitve Jux (Def Jux) Has Folded: The Evidence Mounts (Shabooty Exclusive)

BREAKING: MANY OF MY SOURCES ARE TELLING ME THAT INDIE HIP-HIP RECORD LABEL, DEFINITIVE JUX HAS INDEED FOLDED.

Before I detail the evidence… I guess I’ll say for the record that I have reached out to El-P, and I am waiting for official comment. If and when I hear back with a statement, I will update this post. Until then, here are the things I have been reading.

UPDATE 1: I heard from El-P himself. He told me that he’d be sure to let me know when there is [an official statement ready].

***BULLETIN***

UPDATE 4: El-P has made an Official Statement: EL-P  – “Of Hooptys and Hovercrafts”. [PRESS RELEASE]

I will make a follow-up post with my thoughts.

UPDATE 2: A source tells me that a least one, if not more (now former) DJX staff members have already begun employment at another label. Specifically, person(s) have defected to Decon Records.

UPDATE 3: Cage sent me this message below, earlier on Twitter. To play the role of the psychologist for one second, one thing I noticed was the verbiage used: “they” to refer to Def Jux. I always thought Cage would speak about DJX as “we”. Telling?

Semantics by Cage?

===END OF UPDATES===

Earliest evidence: this blog post in December from a Canadian blogger: Definitive Jux no-more???? [Conspiracy Worldwide Radio] – Looks like this guy knew what he was talking about. I initially just chalked him up to be a hater, but there is no hate in the truth.

Since then, the evidence has mounted. Jeff Weiss mentions it in a December 31st post, under the section on the DJX rapper Danny: “Then it was supposed to be mastered, re-worked, and re-released in the New Year. Now the game of Internet telephone whispers that Def Jux is folding.”

Tweets backing up this story including messages from Living Legends’ Lucky I Am, Tame One, Hints from El-P himself, and even an anonymous message (name redacted due to ominous nature of message):

Damn, sounds like a wrap. And madd at that last message.

When I last saw El-P in September, this definitively didn’t seem like the case. He talked about shooting a video already for his next album that he’s working on. Even said he had a director already for it, etc. So this comes as a shock. I will say, everyone in the DJX camp has been mum lately. And I guess this is why. Shrug. So I guess now Aesop Rock goes to Rhymesayers? I am hoping that El + Cage + Yak Ballz come together to form a WM Label. Sen.

MORE UPDATES AS WE GET THEM!

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Permalink Posted in: cage, cardboard city, hip-hop, music, shabooty exclusive February 2, 2010