In 1984, Rick Rubin released "It's Yours" 12-inch single, which was the very first release on Def Jam Recordings. Although some might argue that LL Cool J's "I Need a Beat" 12-inch single was the first, this is not exactly true. The "It's Yours" recording was something that Rick Rubin put out a few months before joining forces with Russell Simmons. The song was the first single to feature a Def Jam logo, but it was released through producer Arthur Baker's independent label Partytime, which was the hip hop division of his dance music label Streetwise Records. The recording was never part of Def Jam’s collection of master recordings. For its 30th anniversary, however, the track was licensed back to Def Jam/Universal, which pressed it on 180-gram vinyl. In a 1996 interview with The New York Times, Def Jam co-founder Simmons commented about the effect T La Rock and "It's Yours" had on the early hip hop scene: The influence of Keaton's "It's Yours" was significant. The song was sampled by countless artists, including hip-hop group Public Enemy in "Louder than a Bomb" from its 1988 release It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back; Nas in "The World is Yours" from his seminal 1994 album Illmatic; by many sample-based house-music tracks by Todd Terry. The song was later in the soundtrack of the video gameGrand Theft Auto IV, on the old school hip hop radio station the Classics 104.1. "It's Yours" was also used by the Beastie Boys on its song "Paul Revere" off the famous 1986 album Licensed to Ill, an album also produced by Rick Rubin and released on Def Jam Recordings. On the Sirius XM show "Sway In The Morning," Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys pointed out that he can be heard on the backing vocals of "It's Yours." Wu-Tang Clan did not sample Keaton in the track "It's Yourz" on its classic album Wu-Tang Forever, but the chorus of that song clearly emulated him. Southern emcee Mystikal did a remake of "It's Yours" on his 1997 album Unpredictable. The song sampled the original drums and had a similar hook, but it had a southern twist to it as it was titled "It Yearns." On the strength of "It's Yours," Keaton was signed by Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records and released two albums: Lyrical KingKurtis Mantronik also produced two songs on the album, while Todd Terry produced On a Warpath'' The title song "On a Warpath" was produced by DJ Hollywood from Centerfold Productions. The On A Warpath.
1994 injury and recovery
In 1994, Keaton suffered a traumatic brain injury while breaking up a fight in front of his brother's Bronx apartment building. Initially treated at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, he was subsequently treated at the Staten Island University Hospital in April 1995, then, between October 1995 and November 1996, lived at the Haym Salomon Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where he recovered from memory loss and a loss of motor skills. After recovering, Keaton began work on a film project about his life written by Antwone Fisher. He also began to record new music. Keaton is currently back on stage performing all of his hits, both in the United States and internationally. He performed in Brazil on August 2008.
