I’ve tried to stay away from the whole Def Jam thing, but this is too good to pass up. As you know, the Presidency post at the label was recently vacated by Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z, whose term as President was clouded by a variety of allegations of negligence, mis-management and being overly concerned with his own career. During this time Def Jam also introduced the world to heavyweights such as Young Jeezy, Ne-yo and Kanye West.

Jay had plenty of ups and downs and his impact on the label and true abilities as an executive will be tested over time. What has transpired out of this situation is something more inspiring that should be throughly examined. CHUCK D WANTS THE JOB! (click to read full article from allhiphop.com) “Why should we be excited about this?”, you ask.

Let me break it down in 5 reasons why Chuck D running Def Jam would be a breath of fresh air that the music industry desperately needs:

1) He is capable of defending hip-hop as a culture.

These days hip-hop is continuously on the defensive. When hip-hop related events are covered by the national media, it’s predictably under negative connotations. CNN somehow doesn’t notice when rappers are running food drives, visiting schools or rebuilding hurricane ravaged areas, but always make it just in time anytime an artist has a run-in with the law.

As the frequency and seriousness of events involving hip-hop artists seems to grow, our culture needs someone on the front lines that can be taken seriously. I can’t think of a better person to handle this job than Chuck D.

One thing I’ve always liked about Chuck is that he speaks his mind, but also picks his battles wisely. When he’s part of a panel discussion it’s not because he’s there for the face time on TV, it’s because he has something to say and it’s usually a good idea to let him speak his mind because most attempts at making a counter-point will be shut down quickly. The credibility factor to middle America of the knowledge he’s dropping changes dramatically when his title shifts from Radical Rapper to multi-million dollar Label President.

2) He wants hip-hop to be less criminal minded.

His plan to remove the criminal glorification coming from hip-hop culture applies not only to the artists, but management as well. This is something that’s probably not too hard to grasp for those who don’t work intensely in hip-hop, but honestly it’s a tedious task trying to do business with people that don’t really know how to do business.

Some so-called managers just can’t hang when it comes down to the important business decisions involving their clients and a lot of times this is because they’ve earned their position doing business by a less-defined set of rules. THIS HURTS YOUR CLIENT’S CAREER!

I’ve got no illusions about how a lot of artist’s get the financing to impact major label radar and can’t knock the hustle. I am a strong advocate of these artists’ securing proper representation once they’ve reached the status that requires them to deal with other professionals.

Ideally, Chuck’s lead would trickle down and cause the artist’s that have decided to become professionals to treat their craft like a business in the early stages, as it will prepare them immensely for things to come.

3) He’s got nothing left to prove…musically.

One of the major criticisms coming from other Def Jam artists during the Carter Administration was that Jay was too busy promoting his own efforts. The briefly retired rapper dropped 2 solo albums and did dozens of features while at the helm of the label. It’s understandable that some artist’s might take issue to this when they feel that their project has been under-marketed.

I don’t see this being a problem with Chuck. He’s probably not after the position because he’s looking for a way to slip on Rihanna’s next record. Chuck is already cemented as a legend and Public Enemy already have their own page in hip-hop’s history book.

Now, Chuck wants another page, but this one will be written about his impact as a major label exec in an industry struggling to adapt to change. I’m guessing he’s going to be much hungrier than a lot of executives in the business to prove himself as a good investment.

4) He understands the internet.

Chuck has been web-savvy since we were all using dial-up. He hasn’t just utilized the internet as a marketing tool for music, he’s revolutionized it. A lot of what the rest of the industry has been working to understand are devices that he created. P.E. may not be the top dogs on the Soundscan charts these days, but that’s because Chuck has been moving things digitally for years. While the industry shuts down file sharing sites, Chuck has basically been saying “Go ahead and take our sh** for free.” The math isn’t real hard on this one. Who better to carry a label into the digital world than someone who pioneered it?

5) He REALLY understands the internet.

A lot of complaints are (understandably) made by artists for being overlooked because of their geography, which doesn’t put them in an area where they can produce the sort of stats that will impact an A&R report. At the same time these artists are working harder than ever to generate a genuine buzz, but still need web-savvy scouts to understand the fan base they’ve established.

Chuck could potentially open the door for a new and diverse crop of talent that has been scouted and evaluated strictly off their ability to market themselves online. These artists are starting to prove they can sell records in case you hadn’t noticed. I believe someone like Chuck could somewhat desegregate the industry as it is and who knows; maybe they would sell some records?

We’ll have to wait and see if the big bosses at Def Jam will take Chuck’s offer seriously, but I definitely think those of us who truly love hip-hop should hope they take a chance here. Def Jam and Chuck D are both iconic figures in hip-hop and would definitely continue making history with a proven intellectual calling the shots.

Vote Chuck in 08!