Def Soul

Def Soul Records
The New Soul of R&B Flavor The Island Def Jam Music Group a Universal Music company
Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Founder	Russell Simmons Kevin Liles
Defunct	2011 (2011)
Status	Folded
Distributor(s)	Def Jam Recordings (United States) Mercury Records (United Kingdom) Universal Music Group (International) Universal Music Enterprises (reissues)
Genre	Contemporary R&B soul neo soul
Country of origin	United States
Location	New York City, New York
Official website	Archived 22 April 2003 at the Wayback Machine

Def Soul Records was an R&B-based division of American multinational record label Def Jam Recordings. It was formed in 1996 by Russell Simmons and Kevin Liles to expand R&B and soul music through Def Jam's said genre-related roster following the successes of Montell Jordan and Case.

The label later garnered more success with other artists that include Musiq Soulchild, Kelly Price, Christina Milian, Aaron Soul, Terri Walker, Dru Hill, 112, Patti LaBelle and The Isley Brothers.^[1] In the spring of 2011, the label was consolidated into Def Jam, as the urban music industry began to change, so did the Def Jam label roster's multi-genre strategy, citing former artist Rihanna's success as the reason for the downfall of Def Soul.^{[citation needed]}