By Nick Kaoma
Russell Simmons is a name as synonymous with hip hop as adidas shell toes, breakdancing and emceeing. His incredible story of how he built a hip hop empire in the eighties and nineties is a thing of legend now. Born in Queensbridge, New York, Russell was a restless and stubborn young man whose call to fame in the hood was selling weed and fake cocaine. This he admits was not a necessity; it was simply a sure-fire way of ensuring that he always had the freshest pair of kicks on his feet.
But after successfully promoting one or two parties around the block, Russell decided to shun his drug-dealing ways in favour of the entertainment business. From throwing parties, he started managing his brother’s group Run-DMC and eventually signed them to his and Rick Rubin’s nascent indie rap label Def Jam. The upstart label was of course finding it difficult to convince the major record labels to take their product seriously as they still held the view that rap was just a mere fad that would eventually lose its appeal like disco; however the young executives persisted with their vision and were eventually able to turn not only Run-DMC but the Beasties Boys and a young LL Cool J into global hip hop superstars.
Because of their early success, Def Jam was poised more than any other label to fully ride the crest of the hip hop wave as it took on a larger and more lucrative form in the nineties. Top-selling artists such as Jay-Z, Ja Rule and DMX gave the founders enough leverage and bargaining power to be able to pawn off the label to Universal Music for a figure in the north of $120 million.
Russell Simmons has of course found similar success in many other fields such as fashion, film, television, financial services and jewellery. In his latest book “Do You – 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success”, the original hip hop mogul shares all the secrets that have propelled him to his current status. If you’re a young professional, an entrepreneur or just an all-out hustler, you’re gonna need to read this book. Straight up!
The insightful book is littered with wonderful business and personal anecdotes that force you to look at the world through his unique lenses – that’s not a bad option since the 57 year-old has found nothing but success in business and philanthropy.
His 12 Laws cover universally-accepted concepts such as “Stop Frontin’ and Start Today” “Surround yourself with the right people”, “There are no failures, only quitters” and “See your vision and stick with it”. To illustrate the last law, Simmons offers a story about the supremely successful Cash Money Records co-founder Baby.
“When a lot of people in the industry first met Baby, they almost automatically assumed that he wasn’t the best businessman. He’s got a deep New Orleans drawl, tattoos on his face, and more than a few paychecks hanging around his neck. After all this is the man who helped coin the phrase bling-bling. Not the guy industry suits are usually comfortable around. But Baby got a better deal for Cash Money than any of the suits from Harvard or Howard could have ever gotten. The distribution deal he set up with Universal Records was one of the most favourable I have ever seen. It’s become the standard that everyone in the music industry aspires to. What was his secret?
The answer is that Baby wouldn’t compromise his vision. When he and Slim started selling records independently in the early nineties, they learned how to distribute their own product and make their own margins. They became so good at doing it regionally that they started plotting how to do it on a national level. Of course, once the major record labels heard about these two brothers moving thousands of units in the Big Easy, they all wanted to sign them to the standard industry contract, one that gave the label most of the profits for very little risk. But Baby wasn’t going for it. He wasn’t educated in the industry norms and frankly wasn’t interested in being educated about something that didn’t make sense financially to him. Instead, he had a vision of what he and his brother could do and refused to compromise that vision.
I felt the power of Baby’s faith firsthand, because Lyor Cohen and I unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a deal with him at Def Jam. The way it went down was so gangster, he just refused to budge. He told us, ‘I’ll pay you a little fee to distribute my records, but I want to keep the rights to my masters. Plus loan me a little money while you’re at it.’ It was so outrageous, but he literally didn’t know any better.
Baby’s confidence in his vision became contagious. Because after watching him turn down deal after deal, the industry started to think, ‘This guy must really be holding a strong hand’. So eventually some guys high up Universal got involved and gave him the deal he was looking for. It was unprecedented. And it took someone from the streets to make it happen.”
The pages of this captivating book are littered with incredible entrepreneurial and philosophical gems that anyone who wants to succeed in the cut-throat world of business would be wise to use. The spiritual mogul however can at times get a bit too preachy. He makes countless references on how yoga has added a much needed spiritual component to his life and urges his readers to consider taking it up.
Aside from that, this book is one that all the so-called hustlers out there need on their bookshelves!
