Russell Simmons Praises Lyor Cohen's Fundraising, Doesn't Think Rap Is Dead

Russell Simmons has been around for all of Hip Hop's 50 years, and isn't phased by the outpouring of complaints about the current quality of rap music this year.

We caught up with the Def Jam co-founder and DJ Cassidy Thursday ... still reeling from the blowout Hip Hop concert from the recent City of Hope x Pass The Mic fundraiser celebration.

T.I., Big Daddy Kane, Redman, EPMD, and an extremely brolic LL Cool J helped lead the festivities for the night ... Russell tells us he flew all the way from Bali just a be a part of it, he couldn't miss it.

Russ also praised fellow friend and hip hop mogul Lyor Cohen for the millions he helped raise toward cancer treatments mostly impacting minorities ... $4.3 million to be exact, proving the culture can still make a difference at the end of the day.

Many artists this year ... Joe Budden, Layzie Bone, Bow Wow and Fabolous, to name a few ... have cast doubts on the future of rap and Juicy J took things even further, declaring a "state of emergency.