Russell Simmons

(1957–)

Founder, president, and chief executive officer, Rush Communications of NYC; founder, chairman, and chief executive officer, Phat Fashions; chairman, Def Jam/Def Soul division, Universal Music Group; vice chairman, BET Interactive; director, Brilliant Digital Entertainment

Nationality: American.

Born: October 4, 1957, in New York, New York.

Education: Attended City University of New York, 1975–1979.

Family: Son of Daniel Simmons (public-school attendance supervisor), and Evelyn (maiden name unknown; recreation director); married Kimora Lee (fashion model); children: two.

Career: Rush Productions/Rush Artist Management, 1977–1991, president; Def Jam Recordings, 1984–1999, president; Rush Communications of NYC, 1991–, president and chief executive officer; Phat Fashions, 1992–2004, chief executive officer; 2004–, chairman and chief executive officer; Def Jam/Def Soul division, Universal Music Group, 1999–, chairman; BET Interactive, 2001–, vice chairman; Brilliant Digital Entertainment, 2001–, director.

Publications: With Nelson George, Life and Def, 2001.

Address: Rush Communications of NYC, 512 Seventh Avenue, No. 43–45, New York, New York 10018.

Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications, two highly influential African American–owned entertainment businesses, was instrumental in bringing rap music into the American mainstream in the 1980s. Simmons's efforts encompassed record labels, artist management, film and television production, advertising, publishing, clothing labels, and other projects. Notable successes include the hit series Def Comedy Jam for HBO, films such as The Nutty Professor, the Phat Farm clothing line, and the discovery and promotion of rap artists such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, and Ludacris.

Simmons based his success on introducing trends started among African American youth to a broader audience, and prided himself on retaining this ability even as a middle-aged business leader. He tended to delegate day-to-day management and executive tasks to a handful of trusted advisors, focusing instead on creative and entrepreneurial aspects of his operations. Among the hip-hop community he was regarded as a pioneer—an architect of the entire movement—and he spawned many imitators.

The Hip-Hop Entrepreneur

Russell Simmons was born in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York, in 1957 and grew up in the middle-class Hollis neighborhood. Simmons spent part of his youth dabbling in a street gang and dealing marijuana and imitation cocaine—his first business. In the late 1970s, intrigued by the new phenomenon of rap music, Simmons formed Rush Productions ("Rush" being a childhood nickname) to promote concerts featuring rap artists in and around New York City.

In 1975 Simmons enrolled at the City College of New York, but he dropped out just shy of graduation as concert promotion grew more lucrative for him. By this time he had formed Rush Artist Management to manage the careers of some of the artists he worked with. The company's roster eventually included many important artists in rap's first wave, including Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC (featuring Simmons's brother Joey). In 1986 Simmons scored a major coup when Run-DMC released "My Adidas," a single extolling the virtues of the group's favored footwear. Simmons negotiated a multimillion-dollar endorsement deal for Run-DMC with Adidas, the first of many synergies between hip-hop culture and mass-market branding he would engineer.

In 1984 Simmons joined with New York University student Rick Rubin to found Def Jam Recordings, a record label initially run out of Rubin's dorm room. Simmons and Rubin combined their tastes for raw, hard rap music with a strong sense of "street" style, and the duo made Def Jam the first label to successfully introduce hardcore rap into the American mainstream. In 1985 CBS signed a distribution deal with the label, giving Def Jam a national retail profile. This arrangement allowed the label to flourish in 1986 when the Beastie Boys' first album, Licensed To Ill, became the first rap album to top the national pop charts. Between 1985 and 1990, Def Jam grew into the biggest and most influential rap label in the music business.

In 1987 Rubin departed Def Jam, and Simmons promoted longtime employee Lyor Cohen to replace him. Simmons and Cohen quickly parlayed Def Jam's continued success into a lucrative joint-venture deal with Sony that would become the template for many future hip-hop label entrepreneurs. A series of fallow years followed, but Def Jam returned to prominence in the late 1990s with hits by artists such as DMX and Ludacris. In 1999 Simmons sold his remaining stake in Def Jam to Universal Music Group for $100 million, staying on as chairman of Def Jam/Def Soul, now a part of the Island/Def Jam label group. Thanks to a string of successful projects and profitable distribution deals, such as with influential rap labels Roc-A-Fella and The Inc., Island/Def Jam ended 2002 as the second-largest record label in the United States.

Simmons Diversifies

Between 1985 and 1987 Simmons oversaw the production of two films, Krush Groove, adapted from his own life story, and Tougher Than Leather, both featuring the music of Def Jam and Rush Artist Management artists. Though neither film was a hit, the experience laid the groundwork for future ventures.

Two rare setbacks occurred in 1989–1990. The first came when Simmons lost out on a bid to produce the 1991 John Singleton film Boyz 'N the Hood because Columbia Pictures president Frank Price balked at doing business with a man in a track suit and sneakers, Simmons's preferred business uniform. In the same period, Will "The Fresh Prince" Smith, then a popular rap star and a Rush Artist Management client, left the company's roster, claiming Simmons was too busy with other projects. Under new management, Smith soon signed on to the successful sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, eventually becoming one of the biggest stars of the 1990s.

In 1991 Simmons formed Rush Communications to coordinate his various non–Def Jam projects. Success was not long in coming. In 1992 Simmons teamed with veteran producer Simon Lathan and the Brillstein/Gray Company to launch the hit HBO series Def Comedy Jam, featuring the comedy of African American comedians such as Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and Martin Lawrence. Much as he had done with Def Jam Recordings, Simmons invested in Def Comedy Jam to bring talented but controversial black comedians into the mainstream of American culture. The success of the show boosted Rush's revenues from $31 million in 1993 to $65 million in 1994.

Renewed success came in 1996 when Rush produced the hit film The Nutty Professor, starring Eddie Murphy. Also in 1996 Simmons entered the publishing world with One World, a music and culture magazine that aimed to compete with hiphop publications such as Vibe and the Source. An accompanying syndicated television show was short-lived.

Building Brands

In 1992 Simmons founded the clothing company Phat Fashions LLC and its flagship brand, Phat Farm, with the hopes of creating the Def Jam of fashion—a bridge between "street" style and popular culture. As Def Jam's day-to-day operations demanded less of his time, Simmons focused on Phat Farm as an outlet for his energies, overseeing design and marketing and introducing Baby Phat, a women's line featuring designs by his wife, Kimora. Although Phat Fashions failed to make a profit for the first six years of its existence, the company eventually won over consumers and ended 2002 with revenues of $263 million. In 2004 Simmons sold the company to clothing giant Kellwood Group for a reported $140 million. As with Def Jam, Simmons's success blazed a trail for other hiphop entrepreneurs to follow, notably Sean "P-Diddy" Combs's Sean John clothing line and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's Roca-Wear.

In 1996 Rush Communications added advertising to its list of services, producing television commercials for Coca-Cola and ESPN, and partnering in 2000 with advertising giant Deutsch to form dRush. In 2001 Rush Communications entered the dot-com arena, launching 360HipHop.com. Intended to be a one-stop source of music, culture, and information for hip-hop fans, the site never gained an audience and was soon sold to Black Entertainment Television's online operation BET.com, of which Simmons was named vice chairman. In the same year Simmons joined the board of Brilliant Digital Entertainment, partnering with the company to produce online video content featuring Def Jam recording artists.

In 2001 Simmons returned to the spirit of Def Comedy Jam with Def Poetry Jam, a showcase for young urban poets. The show ultimately ran on Broadway to good reviews but poor receipts, and won a Tony award in 2002.

Rush Communications finished 2002 with earnings of $500 million, and in 2003 and 2004 Simmons used this success to fund various projects based on extending established brands. He teamed with Motorola to market the i90 and i95 cellular phones featuring the Phat Farm and Baby Phat logos, respectively, and entered a collaboration with jewelry merchants M. Fabrikant & Sons to create jewelry featuring the Phat Farm, Baby Phat, Def Jam, and Russell Simmons brand names. At the same time, Simmons was taking Rush into the financial-services industry, introducing the Rush Visa, a pre-paid debit card intended for people without bank accounts, and founding UniRush in association with Jackson Hewitt to provide low-cost tax-preparation services to the same consumers. Simmons also began a foray into the specialty beverage market, selling DefCon3 soda exclusively through 7-Eleven stores.

Political Activism

Simmons was politically active and started several charitable organizations. The Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation donated money to arts programs in predominantly black public schools, and the Simmons Brothers Arts Scholarship gave scholarships to young black men who had served time for drug offenses in New York State. In 2001 Simmons founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HHSAN) to sponsor voting initiatives among young African Americans. In its first three years, HHSAN registered one-half million new voters. A portion of the profits from DefCon3 soda and Phat Farm sneakers funded slavery-reparations efforts and the HHSAN, and Simmons spent part of 2003 campaigning against New York State's "three-strikes" drug laws. In 2004 Simmons was investigated by the state of New York for possible violation of lobbying laws after failing to secure a permit for a HHSAN fundraiser.

Management Style

Throughout his career, Simmons capitalized on his ability to anticipate and guide emerging trends, believing that street culture was the source of his inspiration and success. In a Miami Herald interview he asserted that "in the cultural business … you must build a movement before you get capital" (November 24, 2003). Always alert to the connection between hip-hop and fashion, he worked to ensure that the brands he managed stayed relevant to the tastes of hip-hop consumers. Believing that he was his own strongest brand, Simmons never surrendered his designer track suits and white sneakers for traditional business wear.

Simmons took a hands-on approach to the creative and interpersonal sides of his businesses, delegating day-to-day tasks to a handful of longtime partners. As he put it in the Miami Herald interview, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't count on everybody around me being smarter than me." For instance, longtime associate Lyor Cohen handled Def Jam's operations from 1987 on, freeing Simmons to work closely with the label's artists and to develop the brand. Veteran producer Stan Lathan worked with Simmons in a partnership called Simmons-Lathan Media Group, which handled Simmons's film and television ventures, and when Simmons started Phat Farm he asked fashion-industry veteran Ruby Azrak to manage the operation.

Simmons encouraged entrepreneurship among his employees and willingly promoted talented newcomers to positions of responsibility, believing that the closer his companies remained to the street and to youth culture, the better their prospects. One lead designer for Phat Farm, Kevin Leong, was only 25 when given the job. Simmons's impact can be seen in the many imitators he and Def Jam spawned, many of whom worked for him at some point, including Damon Dash and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter of Roc-A-Fella Records and Sean "P-Diddy" Combs of Bad Boy Entertainment.

Sources for Further Information

Berfield, Susan, "The CEO of Hip-Hop," BusinessWeek, October 27, 2003, p. 90.

Leger, D. E., "Entrepreneur of Cool Shares His Start-up Secret," Miami Herald, November 24, 2003.

Ogg, Alex, The Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons And Rick Rubin, London: Omnibus Press, 2002.

Siegal, Nina, "Rapping at Capitalism's Door," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 26, 2003.

Simmons, Russell, and Nelson George, Life and Def, New York: Crown, 2001.

Vaughn, Christopher, "Simmons' Rush for Profits," Black Enterprise, December 1992, p. 67.

—John Owen

• Born: 19 10 04
• Active: '80s, '90s, 2000s
• Genres: Rap
• Instrument: Producer, Executive Producer

Biography

Russell Simmons is the most important businessman in the history of rap music. As co-founder of the Def Jam label, Simmons' street-friendly taste and marketing savvy helped bring hip-hop crashing into the mainstream of American culture and mass media. He's often been compared to Motown impresario Berry Gordy, but there's one important difference: Where Gordy strove to make assimilationist R&B that would be considered respectable by pop audiences, Simmons ensured that his artists remained as uncompromisingly rebellious as possible. That attitude made hip-hop a music of choice for a generation of teenagers simply by staying true to its roots; it was a multi-cultural phenomenon that succeeded -- more or less -- on its own terms. Simmons was the entrepreneur who shepherded rap music into big business, gradually building his own communications company into the largest black-owned enterprise in the industry. By the time he sold Def Jam for 100 million dollars in 1999, he was one of the most respected figures in the rap business, and continued to take an active interest in shaping the culture's future direction.

Russell "Rush" Simmons grew up in the Hollis area of Queens, NY, and spent some of his teen years as a street hustler. He later enrolled at CCNY-Harlem to study sociology, and in 1978, he began using his spare time to promote early hip-hop block parties and club shows around Harlem and Queens, often in tandem with his friend Curtis Walker. A rapper in his own right, Walker adopted the name Kurtis Blow, and Simmons became his manager, also co-writing his 1979 single "Christmas Rappin'." By this time, he'd quit school to pursue artist management full-time, forming his own Rush Productions company. In 1982, he took on his younger brother Joseph's group as clients, christening them Run-D.M.C. and helping to guide their meteoric rise to stardom over the next few years. In the meantime, Simmons met a producer and punk rock fan named Rick Rubin, who shared his taste for raw, aggressive, street-level hip-hop. Putting up a few thousand dollars apiece, Simmons and Rubin founded the Def Jam record label in 1984, and secured a distribution deal with CBS after some early success with LL Cool J (who recorded Def Jam's first-ever single, "I Need a Beat").

Over the next few years, Def Jam grew into one of the most popular and creatively vital labels in hip-hop history. In addition to LL Cool J, the label also released acclaimed and influential recordings by Slick Rick, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, EPMD, 3rd Bass, Onyx, and many others. Simmons had already turned the story of Def Jam's founding into the fictionalized film Krush Groove (1985), which starred Blair Underwood as Simmons and also featured Rubin and Run-D.M.C. as themselves. Critically panned as a plotless vehicle for musical performances, the film was nonetheless a smash hit with hip-hop fans (for pretty much the same reason). Rubin left Def Jam in 1988, leaving Simmons the sole head of the company. Another film, the Run-D.M.C. vehicle Tougher Than Leather, followed that year. It was a sign that Simmons was beginning to build a full-fledged entertainment empire, with hip-hop as the foundation but not the sole focus. In 1991, he began producing the groundbreaking HBO series Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam, a forum for black standup comedians to perform their uncensored routines for a wider audience; among the talents showcased over the series' seven seasons were Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and Chris Tucker.

Simmons continued to branch out into other business ventures: In 1992, he launched Phat Farm, a successful men's clothing line; it later spawned a female companion, Baby Phat, which was overseen by onetime supermodel Kimora Lee (who eventually married Simmons in 1999). He returned to films in 1995 with the hip-hop documentary The Show, and the following year produced Eddie Murphy's comeback hit The Nutty Professor. 1996 also saw the launch of a hip-hop lifestyle magazine, One World, which spun off a syndicated TV show hosted by Lee. Further film ventures included 1997's Gridlock'd and How to Be a Player. Meanwhile, after a downturn during the West Coast G-funk era, Def Jam kept going strong through the '90s with hard, street-level artists like Redman, Method Man, DMX, and Ja Rule, among others.

In 1999, Simmons sold the remainder of his 40 percent share of Def Jam to Universal Music Group for a reported 100 million dollars, staying on as a nominal chairman. In the intervening years, he's kept up his other business ventures, and returned to HBO in 2001 with the spoken-word show Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam, hosted by Mos Def. He's also devoted ample attention to the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, among other philanthropic concerns. The Action Network was a non-profit outgrowth of a 2001 meeting among label heads, artists, and other key figures to discuss responsible directions in image and marketing for hip-hop to take in the new millennium. It made headlines in early 2003 when Simmons called for a boycott of Pepsi, based on the company's decision to jettison rapper Ludacris as its spokesman after Fox news anchor Bill O'Reilly objected to his lyrical content (Pepsi went on to hire equally profane rocker Ozzy Osbourne in his stead). The company admitted handling the situation poorly, and agreed to donate five million dollars to Ludacris' charity foundation. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

• Born: *ba 04, 19zz
• Occupation: Actor, Director
• Active: '90s-2000s
• Major Genres: Comedy, Music
• Career Highlights: The Funeral, Gridlock'd, The Nutty Professor
• First Major Screen Credit: Krush Groove (1985)

Biography

Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons first branched out into movies when he acted and co-produced in the 1985 rap movie Krush Groove. Essentially a glorified biography of his own life, with Blair Underwood assuming the role of Simmons, the movie didn't score well with critics but was a box-office success. Another hip-hop based movie followed, 1988's Tougher Than Leather, before Simmons assumed full control of Def Jam when co-founder Rick Rubin left. Almost immediately he set up Rush Communications, dipping his hand in nearly everything from a clothing line, to television comedy, to magazine production. At this time Simmons also began producing movies. Pictures he's backed creatively and/or financially include The Addiction, The Nutty Professor and Gridlock'd. ~ Steve Kurutz, All Movie Guide

Ethics and the World Crisis: A Dialogue With the Dalai Lama Buy this Movie	Inside Hip Hop Buy this Movie	Street Dreams Buy this Movie	Hip-Hop VIPs Buy this Movie
24 Hours with Russell Simmons Buy this Movie	Journeys in Black: Russell Simmons Buy this Movie	The Show Buy this Movie	Tougher Than Leather Buy this Movie

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business owner; founder; music producer

Personal Information

Born c. 1957; raised in Hollis, Queens, New York City; son of Daniel Simmons (a public school attendance supervisor); married Kimora Lee, 1998; children: Ming Lee, Aoki Lee.
Education: City College of New York, attended.

Career

Co-founder and owner of Def Jam Records and Rush Productions, 1985-; owner of Rush Artist Management; founded Rush Communications, 1990; launched Phat Fashions, 1992; started producing Def Comedy Jam for HBO, 1991; founded Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, 1995; founded Def Pictures with producer Stan Lathan, 1995; director of music videos; published autobiography, Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God, Crown, 2001; organized Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, 2002; launched Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on HBO and on Broadway, 2002; launched jewelry line, 2005; founded Russell Simmons Music Group, 2005.

Life's Work

The explosive entry of rap music onto the national music scene in the late 1980s was greatly due to the efforts and vision of rap producer and artist manager Russell Simmons. As co-owner and founder of the rap label Def Jam Records and as head of Rush Artist Management, Simmons, according to Nelson George in Essence, took "rap music, an often misunderstood expression of inner-city youth, and ... established it as one of the most influential forms of Black music." Dubbed by the media as the "impresario" and "mogul" of rap, Simmons began his career as a fledgling promoter of a new breed of street music, and worked his way up to the helm of a multimillion-dollar entertainment company--complete with its own film and television division.

Simmons grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. As a youth he became involved with a street gang. In the mid-1970s Simmons enrolled at the Harlem branch of City College of New York, where he studied sociology. It was during this time that he became aware of rap music. He saw rappers as they converged in parks and on street corners, taking turns singing rap songs to gathering crowds. These crowds, as Maura Sheehy noted in Manhattan, Inc., found "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. So 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 another aspiring rap producer, Rick Rubin, to form Def Jam Records. The company produced music by new rap groups including Simmons's brother, Joseph's, group, RUN-DMC. CBS Records agreed to distribute Def Jam's records and 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.

Simmons has been described as the "Berry Gordy of his time," comparing him to the man who brought the crossover black Motown sound to pop America in the 1960s. Yet Simmons took a fundamentally different approach. According to 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 was insistent on presenting rap images that are true to the tough urban streets from which rap arose. As a result, his groups donned such recognizable street garb as black leather clothes, high-top sneakers, hats, and gold chains. "In black America, your neighbor is much more likely to be someone like L. L. Cool J or Oran 'Juice' Jones than Bill Cosby, " Simmons explained in the New York Times. "...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."

As the manager for all Def Jam acts Simmons has made the authenticity of Def Jam artists a top priority. "Our artists are people you can relate to," he told 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 have found 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. While some objected to Public Enemy's logo of a black teen in the scope of a police gun, Simmons explained in George that the logo was representative of how many black teenagers feel--like "targets that are looked down upon." Simmons added, "Rush Management identifies with them [black teenagers]. 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 found misogynistic messages in many songs and stage acts. Also, public officials have occasionally brought charges of lewdness against some rappers in concert. Despite the controversial nature of many rap lyrics, Simmons refused to censor the content of his rap groups' songs. He told George, "rap is an expression of the attitudes of the performers and their audience."

When critics charged that rap artists were not positive role models for many black youths, Simmons countered these attacks, explaining that many of their listeners are growing up in the same environments the artists spoke about. "If you take a look at the pop cultural landscape or the black political landscape now, there aren't a lot of heroes," he told the New York Times. "If you're a 15-year-old black male in high school and look around, you wonder what you can do with your life. (Rappers) opened up a whole new avenue of ambition. You can grow up to be like (them). It's possible."

With the success of his record label, Simmons decided to expand his business interests. He created his own clothing line, entitled Phat Pharm, and launched the Def Comedy Jam tours as well as the Def Poetry Jam tours. In 1998 he began production of a syndicated television series, Oneworld's Music Beat with Russell Simmons. The magazine-style program served as a showcase and information bed for hip-hop culture as a whole. "Black culture is universal," he told Billboard. "This show won't be targeted just to blacks. I want this show to be inclusive; it will be for everyone who embraces young black culture." With these new endeavors, Simmons brought hip-hop culture to a wider audience.

In 2000 Universal Music Group purchased Simmons's share of Def Jam for more than $100 million. That same year, Simmons launched a hip-hop website, 360hiphop.com, a venture intended to fill some of the void in urban radio. "There's no community voice that says what [and who] supports the community now that we have [top 40/rhythm-crossover radio]," he told Billboard. However, Simmons sold the site to BET.com by the end of the year.

Although divested from 360hiphop.com, Simmons still acted as a voice of the community. In 2000 he organized a Hip-Hop Summit. The summit attracted many political and religious leaders including Maxine Waters and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Those in attendance at the summit discussed such issues as conflict resolution for artists and greater efforts at accountability for hip-hop's social, political, and economic impact.

In 2005, Simmons reorganized Def Jam Records into a joint venture with Island Def Jam. The new company is called Russell Simmons Music Group and planned to debut with albums from Reverend Run and Buddafly. In the same year, he and his wife Kinora Lee founded a fine-jewelry company, called the Simmons Jewelry Co.

Simmons wed Kimora Lee, longtime girlfriend and host of Oneworld's Music Beat, in 1998. The couple had a daughter, Min. Simmons's autobiography, Life and Def, was slated for release in late 2001. Both family and literary endeavors further broadened Simmons list of duties, but Simmons has always embraced diverse people and projects as not only the spice of life, but the very definition of hip-hop. He told Billboard, "Hip-hop represents the greatest union of young people with the most diversity--all races and religions--that people have felt in America."

Further Reading

Books

• George, Nelson, The Death of Rhythm and Blues, Pantheon, 1988.
• Gueraseva, Stacy, Def Jam, Inc: Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Storey of the World’s Most Influential Hip-Hop Label, One World, 2005.

Periodicals

• Billboard, November 4, 1995, pp. 32; January 31, 1998, pp. 88; August 19, 2000, pp. 24; June 17, 2000, pp. 14; June 16, 2001, pp. 25; February 10, 2001, pp. 36.
• Brandweek, May 8, 2000, pp. 18.
• Daily News Record, June 5, 2000, pp. 1a.
• Electronic Media, November 20, 2000, pp. 16.
• Ebony, January 2001, pp. 116.
• Essence, March 1988; November 2005, p. 72.
• Hollywood Reporter, August 17, 1999, pp. 21.
• Interview, September 1987.
• Jet, May 28, 1990.
• Manhattan, Inc., February 1990.
• New York Times, August, 1987; February 20, 1991.
• People Weekly, July 5, 1999, pp. 25.
• Twice, January 29, 2001, pp. 48.
• Variety, April 18, 2005, p. 2.

— Michael E. Mueller and Leslie Rochelle

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