It's Yours

Recorded in 1984 at Power Play Studios in Queens, New York, in a brief session that Rick Rubin cut while still a New York University student. The track paired T La Rock on vocals with Jazzy Jay on turntables and featured crowd-participation vocals from early Beastie Boys members. The single became an early New York hip-hop club and radio favorite and is widely treated as the first rap record issued on Def Jam's logo, even though it was released through Partytime/Streetwise. It helped bring Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons together and became an early landmark of the label’s rise. It remains one of the most sampled and cited old-school rap singles, with its vocal phrasing and breaks echoed by later artists including Public Enemy and Nas. The record is also remembered as a foundational Def Jam artifact and a durable reference point in hip-hop history.