Russell Simmons

Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American business magnate. He and Rick Rubin founded the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam. He also created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics. Russell Simmons is the third richest figure in hip hop, having a net-worth estimate of $340 million as of April 2011. Simmons was raised in Queens, New York. He is the son of Daniel Simmons, Sr., a public school administrator, and Evelyn Simmons, a New York City park administrator. His older brother is abstract expressionist painter Daniel Simmons, Jr., and his younger brother is Rev. Joseph Simmons ("Run" of Run-DMC). Def Jam became just one piece in Simmons' corporation, Rush Communications, Inc., which included a management company, a clothing company called Phat Farm, a movie production house, television shows such as Def Comedy Jam, a magazine and an advertising agency. Rick Rubin sold his share of the record company for $100 million to Universal Music Group in 1996. Simmons produced Def Poetry, begun as a television series on HBO, which also branched into a Broadway live stage production in 2002. In 2000, he co-founded the Internet start-up 360