What Happen to Rawkus Records?

I recently read Questlove's book called Mo-Metta Blues. It wasn't exactly a page turner, but being a Roots fan, I stayed interested. The thing that got my adrenaline going is when Quest started talking about the interactions with Hip-Hop legends such as Common, Mos-Def, Talib Kweli, and of course black thought was mentioned. The book also mentioned J-Dilla and Slum Village and pointed to the time when Questlove first heard Slum's debut album. He said the samples were electrified and they resonated with that soul sound. Well, all that late 90's, electric lady, golden era of hip-hop talk got me pumped up and I started revisit all the albums I loved from that time frame. In the process I got to wondering what happened to Rawkus Records? The Records seem to sell well enough and the underground energy they brought to the main stream really hasn't been replicated since. I read a few articles and it looks like they had their run through the early 2k's and then the catalog was sold to Geffen records when the industry was trying to figure out how to make money after CD's stopped selling. Well there you have it, it doesn't exactly satisfy but, I wanted to know, and I wanted to share the info..






Below I listed some of the most important Rawkus relevant content that impacted me. I loved those Sound Bombing Albums, and the funny part is, I owned SB2 before I ever knew there was an SB1.
If you were on Rawkus Records, it meant you were an MC. That's what I loved about that label. There was no 1, 2, buckle your shoe shit, it was all 100cc's of the uncut cleanest dope.





Pharoahe Monch was that shit! Duh dun dun Duh, Simon says get the fuck up!
This had so many jams on it, I listened to this, and many others,over and over and over, My 89' Pontiac Parasine had a disc player that didn't have a memory, so every time you started the car the CD would start from the beginning.





Mos Def Black on Both Sides was a classic. I recall we waited for this to drop.  The crew was already heavy on the Black Star Project and the Solo's were a natural progression.







After I read Questlove's book I gravitated to the Black Star Album first. It was one of those albums that could play all the way threw. I remember when I bought the disc from Bestbuy, I didn't really know much about Mos and Talib and my boy Mike suggested the album. I told him if it was wack, he would have to keep it, and pay me for the cost of the disc. Needless to say, I held onto that one.







I used to listen to the Kweli CD over and over as well. I mostly remember being in Sean Barnes white Altima and the bass vibrating the mucas in the back of my throat. I recall a skit with Lenox Lewis on it..LOL  "Hi, this is Lenox Lewis..... " or some shit like that.... I wish Sean was still alive, I'd call him and we would have a laugh.