Hip-Hop Guru

Interview By DEBORAH SOLOMON
Published: April 29, 2007
As the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and the so-called C.E.O. of hip-hop, do you think the outrage over Don Imus’s prickly language and his firing might broaden into a crusade against song lyrics? It already has broadened to lyrics. It’s been that way since 1983. They’ve been yelling at me from Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys till now.
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Christian Oth

What do you make of Barack Obama, who recently said that rap musicians should reform their lyrics? What we need to reform is the conditions that create these lyrics. Obama needs to reform the conditions of poverty. I wish he really did raise his money on the Internet, like he said. I wish he really did raise his money independently.
What are you saying? I think about one-fourth of his campaign contributions came from small donations made over the Internet, even though he collected more than any other Democratic candidate from Wall Street people. So at the end of the day, he’s controlled, too. That’s my point. He’s a mouse, too, like everybody else.
Are there any presidential candidates who inspire you? I talk to John Edwards more than I talk to anyone. He has said more things about the conditions we need to think about. He went to yoga with me. He did the whole class, an hour and a half. He sweated like crazy. He’s in good shape, but it was hard on him.
You write extensively about your devotion to yoga in your new self-help book, “Do You!” Is the title your own coinage? No. It’s an old hip-hop expression: “Do you!” It’s just something we say all the time. It means do what you want to do. Do what inspires you. Don’t be a sheep. Keep it real. The book was originally called “Russell Simmons’ Laws of Success.”
Really? That’s pretty generic. Oprah renamed the book. It was like God calling. She gave me a better title.
Your book basically advocates for old-fashioned American values — i.e., work hard, don’t give up. The book doesn’t say just work hard. It says meditate. That’s the most important thing in the book. I go to yoga every day. I meditate every morning. Do you meditate?
I prefer reading in bed. That for me is meditation. No it’s not. It’s noise. It’s the opposite. To be awake is to be fully present, no noise, just you and God. Most of us only have seconds of full consciousness. To live in a state of samadhi — that’s what we’re here for.
Why did you, a self-proclaimed seeker of spiritual truths, ask Donald Trump, of all people, to write the foreword to the book? I think it’s all God. I say that all day long. The real process is doing you and having a truth that you live up to. Donald is different than a lot of other very rich people. He has a good time. He is always laughing. He’s into doing him.
In the years since you sold your stake in Def Jam, you’ve gone into the fashion business and developed clothing lines like Phat Farm and Baby Phat. Do you still run them with your wife, Kimora Lee? We’re separated. She works upstairs. People do think it’s inspiring the way we handle our partnership.
You’re known for dating models. What do they offer besides flawless skin? They’re better than actresses. Actresses are kind of a little crazy.
There are other women besides models and actresses. Why don’t you try dating, say, a professor the next time around? A professor? I can barely read.
Are you dyslexic? No. I can read. But I can’t understand anything. I just read “The Autobiography of a Yogi,” by Paramahansa Yogananda, over and over again.
Do you see a therapist? Why? You think I’m crazy?
No, but you seem to have a heightened need for stimulation. Unfortunately, I do. My nickname is Rush, but I practice yoga every day so I can rush less.
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SORRY PART 2- THE RUSSELL EDITION

! I admit, I was infuriated over the comments Russ said about my presidential nominee Barack Obama. Anyway, in a statement, Russell recanted those notions of ¡§the mouse¡¨ called Barack and clarified. Read the statement his publicist hit m with: "A recent comment I made about Dennis Kucinich was taken out of context. I stated that I would like to hear more from Dennis Kucinich in the debate because I believe he has very relevant, important and useful ideas to add to a discussion. When I appeared on "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" on April 25, I was asked about the Democratic Primaries and I said that I had not yet picked a candidate. Donny then asked if a change had to be made right now, what would it be. At that point I said I would put Dennis Kucinich in office. I believe that all of the democratic candidates have good qualities and any one of them has the ability to start a process of changing our relationship with the world and improving the lives of the poor in this country. When I am ready to officially support one of the candidates, I will put out an official statement. I'd also like to clarify the part of the interview in the NY Times magazine, where I referred to Senator Barack Obama as a 'mouse,' as it has been take out of context in reports in the media. And, I'd like to publicly apologize to Senator Obama for any hurt it has caused. There has, i believe, been more made of my statement that "all of the Democratic candidates are controlled" than i would have expected. The full statement, i believe, was clear in its intention. The statement in its proper context was meant to make a point about all of the candidates and American politics, in general. In the future, i will be more careful in how i express my views. For the record, I believe Senator Obama is a strong, solid candidate and I wish him the best in his run for the Presidency.

Notes on the "Decency March"By NYOIL

Rapper NYOIL has issued a response to Reverend Al Sharpton's March for Decency, a protest of raunchy, sexist and violent Hip-Hop lyrics. The march for decency? I'll keep this direct and to the point. I am a firm believer in involving myself with community action, social movements, and the political process. As a father, a man and a concerned citizen, I'm not into the idea of just allowing people to dictate where my life goes or allowing them to alter the things that impact my life. They cannot just tell me how the things that I find personally valuable shall be allocated and resourced. Hence when my dude NES (Petroleum Empire Music Group: Promotions VP) called me and told me that Al Sharpton was organizing a "Decency March," I was compelled to get involved. Now I am in a conflicted position for a variety of reasons that I am sure many of you may share. First, I am an adult and, as a parent, I agree wholeheartedly that the language and images portrayed in Hip-Hop today are damaging and destructive to the minds of our children. I bare witness to this everyday in my hometown of Staten Island, NY, where I watch kids emulate lifestyles they aren't even living - until they are truly living that lifestyle. They invariably find themselves trapped in situations that they are ill-equipped to escape. Secondly, as an MC and a devout Hip Hopper who loves the complete culture and this lifestyle. I am concerned because I can see a "lowering of the Boom " on Hip-Hop as it is being made the scapegoat for mass media's systematic corruption of our nation and people in the international community. It is being used to cloak the nefarious deeds of corporate entertainment companies and corporate radio. All the while focusing on the bad elements and further promoting them and their presence while totally ignoring artist such as an NYOIL, Wise intelligent, Immortal Technique, Little Brother, Uno the Prophet, Dead Prez, and so on. Artist that make the sort of music that these demagogues seem to be screeching for. Finally, as an American and a concerned citizen who has a great deal of respect and understanding of the items contained in the Constitution. It feels like these movements to ban words and censor artist is a cloaked veil hiding a larger agenda to co-opt our freedom of speech. Granted in insuring our freedom of speech there is a great deal of speech that is respectfully unworthy of protection, and even if 99% of free speech is useless filth, it is for that 1% that challenges the ideas and percepts of this country and this society and in the end create the dialogue that initiates a better world for us that this right has to be protected tooth and nail. Now this is my internal paradigm which doesn't include my personal distrust of so called Black leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who at this stage in their Civil Rights careers appear to be more media whores than fighters for equality and justice for all people. So here I am at this March for Decency, looking around for Hip Hop somewhere in here and all I could find was Kurtis Blow. (LOL) Kurtis Blow was the only Rapper besides myself that was there which was unreal to me. Where was Hip-Hop at??? Why weren't we there making our collective voices heard. Many of us are established men and women with families and careers and in some cases political and corporate influence. Hip Hoppers span a wide demographic now. We are at the minimum between the ages of 10 to 50. No one was out there to support our culture except Kurtis Blow and me? I guess these are the breaks. This was disheartening because when we speak about Hip-Hop, it is less a culture we are speaking about in some instances but a time span that we have had the opportunity to live in. Even if you never tried to break dance or write graffiti you and your life and the people around you have been greatly influence by this music and culture. It has shaped your means of communication, your fashion, and in some cases your very values systems. So it is sad that we could not be bothered to represent ourselves and our interest. I am also looking at who exactly was organizing this march. And to be honest, it was pitiful. It was a throng of upwards of 300 people who were the most clearly out of touch individuals on the planet. The type of people who go outside and yell at the unruly kids on the block while their son is smoking crack behind the building and their daughter is the neighborhood whore. A group of people more interested in controlling people than understanding them. When are we going to retire these so called Black leaders? These leaders that lead us further into embarrassment. These leaders that are still trying to use outdated and ineffective Civil Rights techniques in this day and age. Who pragmatically clutch to the "old ways " and old glory refusing to acknowledge much less uplift new leaders and new guards for our and their futures. I mean think about it... they do it in sports it is called recruiting, they go out and find athletes that they believe can further a great sports program. In the corporate world they find a young executive and develop this protege to be able to continue the vision of the company and lead it into the future with an influx of new ideas and an understand of the future. I could cite this in almost any institution that involves a hierarchy of men and women grouped to accomplish a goal of some sort. But not so for the Black community. Our leaders remain the same leaders from 1960 in 2007. It is laughable. And finally I am looking at who they were marching against. What is the point of marching from record label to record label? Especially after you (Reverend Al Sharpton) promoted this march on HOT 97... on the Miss Jones in the morning show... what an irony. Rev. Al promoted a decency march on Miss Jones' morning radio show. Then he went on the Ed Lover show on Power 105.1 Never once did he hold them, their shows, their stations, program directors accountable for playing this filth. At some point DJ Scratch of EPMD fame called the station (power 105.1) and insinuated that the radio should be accountable too. Ed Lover retorted, "Oh it's our fault now? " Oprah Winfrey had the gall to have a two-day discussion based on this issue. But lest we forget that Oprah has the unique ability to be able to place anyone on her show to promote a product Idea or book and that person will achieve great success. In fact she had a straight liar on her show who promoted a book full of lies about his drug addicted life. He made it to the best sellers list as a result of his Oprah appearance. Why couldn't she just as soon highlight Hip-Hop artist that are making music that respects women and the culture? Imagine what these record labels would do if they knew that if they had a positive artist that he might get a shot at some Oprah time? An artist that could sell to an Oprah crowd...think about it. Imagine instead of marching and wasting valuable action initiative energy think if Al Sharpton mobilized his following to go out to retail stores and purchase a CD from a list of positive artist. He would have been more effective that any of this marching will ever be. Seeing as how in this day Hip Hoppers like to identify to the criminal element.. let me break it down in that language.. Hip Hoppers, teens, Black men, you're being played as a "patsy." That means you are getting framed to take the fall for something someone else said or did. There is a 300lb Gorilla in the room drinking tea and crumpets pointing the finger at a little black boy for taking up all the space in the room. A very interesting and scary time is upon us. We need to get our head on a swivel and start looking at what is going on around us. I suggest that some of us start playing chess so we can start seeing a few moves ahead. There is a big joke being told and we look to be on the business end of its punch line. We'd better wake up fast and get mobilized and start speaking up. Lest we leave our future in the hands of Rev. Al Sharpton and the like. Hip-Hop, stand up or just sit down and shut up. My name is NYOIL And I approve this message