A four part series

Origins of Hip HopHip Hop Record Labels

Rap was a live art form for years before it was a record business. These four labels — a Harlem storefront, a New Jersey independent, a two-man office on 57th Street and an NYU dorm room — are the ones that put it on wax and built everything that came after.

Part One

1962 · New York City

Enjoy Records

Bobby Robinson's Harlem record shop that pressed the first generation of MCs.

Read part 1

Part Two

1979 · New Jersey

Sugar Hill Records

The New Jersey independent that turned a park jam into a global record business.

Read part 2

Part Three

1981 · New York City

Profile Records

Two guys, $34,000 borrowed from their parents, and the label that broke Run-D.M.C.

Read part 3

Part Four

1984 · then Manhattan

Def Jam Recordings

Started in an NYU dorm room in 1984 and never stopped running the culture.

Read part 4