Monday, June 14, 2010 6:42am ET by  

, , ,

Jay-Z shocked by outdated Def Jam

Jay-Z has revealed how he couldn't believe how out-of-touch executives were when he took over as the President of Def Jam Records. The rap mogul took on the role at the influential label in 2004 and later signed a number of successful artists - including Rihanna and Ne-Yo but admits he was shocked that a label as big as Def Jam hadn't had a major hit since the '80s.

"You had record executives who've been sitting in their offices for 20 years because of one act, 'But that's the guy who signed Motley Crue!' (I was like), 'Seriously? That was f**king 25 years ago. When you look at what's happening, the record industry is purging itself. Def Jam released 57 albums one year. Are there 57 good artists in the world? If you have 57 artists and four of them break, that's bad business."