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Very few people have the opportunity, vision and drive to influence a whole generation. Those that do have the opportunity very rarely take their opportunity to do just that because it is a major responsibility. This may be why some young entrepreneurs become disillusioned, but there is reassurance out there in the form of one man that grasped his opportunity with both hands. Russell Simmons is that man. The founder of Def Jam Records is undoubtedly a hip-hop pioneer and gave so much to his generation as well as future generations.

Growing Up

Russell Simmons was born on October 4, 1957 in Queens, New York and grew up in one of the roughest areas of the city. As such, he did fall in with a bad crowd and spent some of his formative years as a hustler on the streets. One thing he did have from his childhood though was a love of music and a drive to promote it as best as he could. He did get an education though and actually made the decision to go to City College of New York in Harlem in 1978. He studied sociology by day and promoted hip-hop gigs by night. However, the latter got the better of the former and he dropped out to follow his one true love.

The entrepreneur began promoting local music acts in New York and would wax lyrical about their talent if asked. It was while he was working the music scene that he met a college student by the name of Rick Rubin. Rubin and Simmons began to think that there was a better way to get the music of the likes of Kurtis Blow, Public Enemy, Run DMC and LL Cool J heard, and they founded Def Jam Records together in 1984. They soon found that their music was played on the radio on a regular basis and began to produce the albums of the stars mentioned above. Within just a few years, those acts along with Slayer, the Beastie Boys and other hip-hop artists had risen to universal chart success as a result of the entrepreneur’s vision.

Russell Simmons perhaps did not know it when he first co-founded Def Jam but he was actually championing the hip-hop cause. The entrepreneur effectively took hip-hop to the masses and along with the music went the culture. Simmons has been one of the most influential individuals in hip-hop history because he began inspiring new acts like Jay-Z and Tupac, both of whom he later signed.

Rush Communications

Following the success of Def Jam Records and the hip-hop revolution, the entrepreneur saw an opportunity to take hip-hop culture to the masses via a variety of other mediums. As a result, he founded Rush Communications as an umbrella company that oversaw all of his interests. He founded a management company, a movie production company, two TV shows (Def Poetry Jam and Def Comedy Jam, both of which are shown on HBO), a media company (Simmons Lathan Media), Simmons Jewellery and a website (Global Grind) amongst other businesses. This list is quite impressive and allowed the entrepreneur to successfully influence culture in all elements of society rather than a select community, unlike others that went before him.

One of Simmons’ most successful ventures was Phat Farm Clothing. He designed and manufactured street clothes that typified the hip-hop culture of the time. As a result, it was highly successful. So much so that the entrepreneur actually sold it in 2004 for $140 million.

As you can see, Russell Simmons is a true entrepreneur in every sense of the word and influenced millions of people from the 1980s right up until today. He undoubtedly had a major hand in forming hip-hop culture and is worth $340 million as a result. For a guy from the wrong side of the tracks with no education, Russell Simmons has revolutionized the world and hip-hop forever.