After Universal hit it big this past month with Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A. biopic that spent multiple weeks in the number one spot at the box office, the studio is now mulling over another music industry film centering on Def Jam Recordings (the label is owned by Universal Music Group), according to rumors at Deadline.
The story would be based on the 2002 memoir Life and Def: Sex, Drug, Money + God written by co-founder Russell Simmons and Nelson George and would focus on Def Jam’s early years. Simmons began the record label with Rick Rubin (both pictured above) in the 1980s and signed acts like LL Cool J and Beastie Boys early on. The label became a force within the rap and hip hop genres of the music industry after having humble and underground beginnings within Rubin’s own NYU dorm room. The label now represents artists like Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and Big Sean among others.
Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four) and Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill (True Story) are already being rumored for the two lead roles although nothing has been set in stone yet by Universal.
This film would join the growing line of rap/hip-hop industry projects currently taking Hollywood by storm. Besides Straight Outta Compton, the highly successful and Emmy-nominated television show Empire proves that there is currently a demand for the subject material within the entertainment landscape.
Leave a Comment