Def Jam Africa
Universal Music Group's African Def Jam label, launched 26 May 2020 with offices in Johannesburg and Lagos.
- Based in
- Johannesburg and Lagos, South Africa
- Founded
- 2020
Def Jam Africa is Universal Music Group’s African arm of the Def Jam label, launched on 26 May 2020 with offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. UMG announced it as a division dedicated to identifying and signing “hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent from across the entire continent”, following the blueprint of Def Jam Recordings in the United States and the earlier launch of Def Jam South East Asia in 2019.
The label was set up with dedicated A&R, marketing, creative and digital teams drawn from UMG’s Nigerian and South African operations, reporting to Sipho Dlamini, managing director for Universal Music Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa. Jeff Harleston, then interim chairman and chief executive of Def Jam Recordings, and Adam Granite, UMG executive vice president for market development, were both named in the launch announcement.
It launched with a roster of Boity, Cassper Nyovest, Nadia Nakai, Nasty C, Tshego, Tellaman and Ricky Tyler in South Africa, and Larry Gaaga and Vector in Nigeria. Most had previously released recordings under the broader UMG Africa banner.
The label appears in phonogram credits in the fuller form “Def Jam Recordings Africa”. It is the imprint named alongside Kabelo Motsamai in the credit on Prince Kaybee releases of 2022, the period covered by a joint venture agreement concluded with Universal Music on 3 February 2022 and mutually terminated with effect from 3 April 2023.