Late in 2000, DJ Clue met Fabolous and made him into the first artist signed to his label. This move paid off big time as Fab would go on to become one of the bigger rappers in the game. He would keep Desert Storm with Elektra Records until the label shut down. The shut down led to his label being moved over to Atlantic Records. After a bad experience with Atlantic, DJ Clue decided to move to Def Jam, which was hailed by Jay-Z.
Once Fabolous finally released his album on Def Jam, he seemed poised to become the next star of both Desert Storm and Def Jam. But, for some reason, he has never been able to keep the fans coming back like Jay-Z has. His album was not even able to go platinum, as it stalled at gold and his 2009 effort, Loso’s Way, suffered from similar stagnation.
Fabolous was poised to become the new face of Def Jam while Jay-Z was the head of the label, but when Jay-Z stepped down, the new management did not care for Fabolous. It has been said that the only artists that Def Jam actually cares about are Rick Ross and Kanye West. Even such longtime artists as Ludacris do not receive the treatment of Rick Ross.
DJ Clue has been on the outs with Def Jam ever since Jay-Z resigned as CEO of the label and he is now looking for the exit. He is ready to leave Def Jam for another label and he will be taking his franchise player, Fabolous, with him. If DJ Clue, Fabolous, and Desert Storm end up leaving the Def Jam label, there will be almost no one left from the Jay-Z era on the label.