A phone call his sister made got Erick Sermon into the carpet business.
About two years ago, the EPMD rapper-producer called Fox, a producer with whom Sermon had recently recorded a song.
"She knew I had a carpet store and asked me to get them a Def Squad logo rug,” Fox says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. "I never made these rugs before. The Def Squad logo is very hard to do, especially for my first rug, so instead I made an EPMD rug.”
The logo for Sermon’s Def Squad crew is intricate and would have been difficult given that Fox, whose family owns Fox Floors, a three-generation carpet business, hand cuts with a razor blade the fabric for his carpets. He then seams them back together.
Once done with the EPMD rug, Fox brought to Long Island, New York to surprise Sermon.
“My eyes just lit up,” Erick Sermon says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. "I said, ‘You know what…we’re gonna make this a company. That night I came up with the Def Rugs concept. So it was something he had made for me, and next thing you know, I saw something in my head flash like, ‘We should do something. It could be crazy.'”
Fox says he was blown away by Sermon’s response.
"He absolutely flipped out when he saw it and it lit up the room with his energy,” Fox says. “He was like, ‘Fox. This is what you need to be doing. This is how your gonna break into the music biz and every celeb and fan is going to want one in their home and studio.'”
Fox then staring making rugs featuring the logos of some of his favorite artists, including X Clan, Run-DMC and Naughty By Nature.
He then used social media to spread the word regarding his work, which would later officially become Def Rugs.
"I would tweet a pic of the rug to the artist,” Fox says, "and next thing u know I was on a street corner in queens with DMC and Erick talking about carpet.”
At that point, the rugs were on-offs, something Sermon says would appeal to people’s desire for exclusivity.
"If it’s in your office, living, den, studio or whatever, it’s just a good piece to have,” Sermon says. "It lasts long and it ups the décor of the whole surrounding of where you put it. It’s just something dope to have and it looks nice wherever you put it.”
Other artists shared the same type of enthusiasm Sermon displayed.
"When I give the rug to an emcee whether on stage, back stage, in their home or the street, I'm able to thank them for all the great music they gave my life,” Fox says. "The emcees love it and feel my passion. It's a very rewarding feeling being able to give back to the culture while combining both my passions in life, old school Hip Hop and flooring. I've met so many emcees I'd never imagine in a million years. Whole groups, from 3rd Bass, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, Nice & Smooth, Pete Rock & CL Smooth and on and on. It's very surreal."
Fox says that he and Sermon plan to mass produce licensed rugs featuring rap logos that they will sell worldwide in shops, online and as artist merchandise.
“Right now, this is just a lot of groundwork,” Sermon says of Def Rugs. "This is something that’s going to be really special. Even the celebrities that have one right now love it, and that’s not even a ‘fan.’ So imagine what’s it’s gonna be like for a fan to order a Wu-Tang ‘W’ rug, and have that in their house, or the Beastie Boys [logo] in their house. It’s gonna be a lotta people who are going to love to have [these] in their house.”