Russell Simmons

(c. 1957-)
Recording executive, Producer, Promoter

The explosive entry of rap music onto the national music scene in the late 1980s is greatly due to the efforts and vision of rap record producer and artist manager Russell Simmons. Co-owner and founder of the rap label Def Jam Records and head of Rush Artist Management, which produces such top-selling rap acts as Run-DMC, Public Enemy, L. L. Cool J, and Oran "Juice" Jones, Simmons took "rap music, an often misunderstood expression of inner-city youth, and ... established it as one of the most influential forms of Black music," wrote Nelson George in Essence. Often deemed by the media as the "impresario" and "mogul" of rap, Simmons began as a fledgling promoter of a new breed of street music, and today is at the helm of a multimillion-dollar entertainment company—complete with its own film and television division—which is the largest black-owned music business in the United States.

Some have described Simmons as the "Berry Gordy of his time," referring to the man who brought the cross-over black Motown sound to pop America in the 1960s, yet Simmons's approach is fundamentally different. According to Maura Sheehy in Manhattan, Inc., "Like Gordy, Simmons is building a large, diverse organization into a black entertainment company, only Simmons's motivating impulse is to make his characters as `black' as possible."

Simmons is insistent on presenting rap images that are true to the tough urban streets from which rap arose; as a result, his groups don such recognizable street garb as black leather clothes, high-top sneakers, hats, and gold chains. He explained his objectives to Stephen Holden in the New York Times: "In black America, your neighbor is much more likely to be someone like L. L. Cool J or Oran `Juice' Jones than Bill Cosby.... A lot of the black stars being developed by record companies have images that are so untouchable that kids just don't relate to them. Our acts are people with strong, colorful images that urban kids already know, because they live next door to them."

Simmons grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, and as a youth was himself involved with a street gang. It was while he was enrolled in the mid-1970s at the Harlem branch of City College of New York studying sociology that he became aware of rap music and its appeal to young inner-city blacks. He saw rappers as they would converge in parks and on street corners, and then take turns singing rap songs to gathering crowds.

Sheehy depicted the exchange between rappers and their audience in those beginning days of rap: "Rappers, called MCs (emcees) then, told stories and boasted—about street life, tenements, violence, and drugs; about their male prowess, their talents; about `sucker MCs'; and about women. Their raps romanticized the dangerous, exciting characters of the street, sanctified its lessons into wisdom, made poverty and powerlessness into strength by making rappers superhuman, indomitable. The audience followed, finding their power in dancing and dressing styles of the moment; in mimicking the swaggering, tougher-than-leather attitude; and by worshiping their street `poets.'"

Simmons saw in rap enthusiasts a vast audience that the recording industry had not tapped into. He left his college studies and began tirelessly promoting local rap artists, producing recordings on shoestring budgets and conducting "rap nights" at dance clubs in Queens and Harlem. In 1984, he teamed up with a fellow aspiring rap producer named Rick Rubin to form Def Jam Records, and caught the attention of CBS Records who agreed to distribute the label. Within three years, Def Jam albums such as the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill, L. L. Cool J.'s Bigger and Deffer, and Run-DMC's Raising Hell dominated the black music charts.

Throughout, Simmons has been the manager of all Def Jam acts and has emphasized authenticity with each particular group. "Our artists are people you can relate to," he told Fayette Hickox in Interview. "Michael Jackson is great for what he is—but you don't know anybody like that. The closest Run-DMC comes to a costume is a black leather outfit.... It's important to look like your audience. If it's real, don't change it."

Some critics find the image of rappers disturbing. "It is the look of many rap artists—hard, belligerent, unassimilated, one they share with their core audience—that puts many folks on edge," noted George. The group Public Enemy, which carries the logo of a black teen in the scope of a police gun, is representative, as Simmons told George, of how many black teenagers feel like "targets that are looked down upon." Simmons added: "Rush Management identifies with them. That's why we don't have one group that doesn't look like its audience."

The lyrics and antics of some male rap artists have also infuriated women's groups, who find misogynistic messages in the songs and stage acts, while public officials have brought charges of lewdness against some rappers in concert. Simmons distances himself from censoring the content of his rap groups' songs, telling George that "rap is an expression of the attitudes of the performers and their audience." He does, however, ultimately uphold rappers as positive role models for many black youths.

As an example, Simmons commented to Holden that the members of Run-DMC, which include Simmons's younger brother Joseph, "are more than musicians.... They're from a particular community, and have succeeded on their own terms without any compromise.... If you take a look at the pop cultural landscape or the black political landscape now, there aren't a lot of heroes. If you're a 15-year-old black male in high school and look around, you wonder what you can do with your life. How do you better yourself? Run-DMC has opened up a whole new avenue of ambition. You can grow up to be like RUN-DMC. It's possible."

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Born c., 1957; raised in Hollis, Queens, New York City; father's name, Daniel Simmons (a public school attendance supervisor). Education: Attended City College of New York. Addresses: Home—New York, NY. Office—Def Jam Records, 298 Elizabeth St., New York, NY.

CAREER

Co-founder and owner of Def Jam Records and Rush Productions, beginning 1985; owner of Rush Artist Management. Production associate of rap films Krush Groove, 1985, and Tougher Than Leather, 1988. Director of music videos.

FURTHER READINGS

Books

George, Nelson, The Death of Rhythm and Blues, Pantheon, 1988.

Periodicals

Essence, March 1988.

Interview, September 1987.

Jet, May 28, 1990.

Manhattan, Inc., February 1990.

New York Times, August, 1987; February 20, 1991.

—Michael E. Mueller

Source: Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 1.