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Posted by Robert
Rap News Network
2/10/2004 10:23:33 AM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Russell Simmons.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is laughing his way to the bank as his vision of music and fashion, once rejected by mainstream record executives as a fad, has crossed over from its urban black roots to white suburbia.
Simmons discusses his empire and the $10 billion-a-year hip-hop industry he leads, in a 60 Minutes II profile to be broadcast Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
"The arrogance of white men is why I'm here today," Simmons tells Correspondent Charlie Rose. "My independence is because they didn't accept me. So I've made more money every step of the way."
Simmons just sold his clothing brand, Phat Farm, for $140 million. His hip-hop business lines generate nearly half a billion dollars a year and include branded products like watches and cell phones and even a magazine. It is estimated that 80 percent of hip-hop's audience is white.
Asked if the controversy over hip-hop - whose "gangsta" lyrics can be violent, misogynistic and often glorify a street life that includes guns and murder - is a downside to his success, Simmons makes no apologies.
"You may not like the truth that's coming out of some of the mouths of young people, but those are people you wouldn't hear from at all," he tells Rose.
Simmons asserts that the government, by allowing the decay of communities, is part of the problem: "The conditions of suffering...in our impoverished communities are not acceptable. The reflection of those conditions is less concerning to me and I work every day about changing those conditions.”
The U.S. government could use the same scrutiny applied to rappers, rails Simmons. "Why aren't we talking about the gangsta government we have? ... Gangsta rappers, they're imitating the gangsta government," says Simmons.
The profile of Simmons includes interviews with his wife, model Kimora Lee, fellow hip-hop entrepreneur P. Diddy, and Simmons's friend, real estate king Donald Trump.
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