JAM BANDS

It’s hard to believe that famed record label Def Jam Recordings was founded just 30 years ago in producer Rick Rubin’s NYU dorm room. The label simultaneously feels as if it has existed forever and is completely brand-new. That’s a testament to the type of talent it has continued to attract since the mid ’80s, including Public Enemy and LL Cool J. Its current roster is loaded with the most important names in hip-hop, like Kanye West, Ludacris, Big Sean, and 2 Chainz. To celebrate, artists from across Rubin and Russell Simmons’s label’s history will come together for a historic night. It’s not every day you get to see Ashanti and Ja Rule reunited on the same stage as Jhené Aiko, DMX, and Foxy Brown.

Thu., Oct. 16, 8 p.m., 2014