The CEO of Hiphop

Russell Simmons should need no introduction. He is the founder of Def Jam Records and one of US Hiphop's most prominent entrepreuners. Business Week magazine have dubbed him "The CEO of Hiphop". 

He has been involved in marketing and advertising Coca Cola products since 1986 when he was the manager of Kurtis Blow: the first rapper ever to do an advertisement (for Sprite). Beverly Paige of Mercury / Polygram’s publicity department arranged it for Blow even though Simmons was rooting for his brother Joseph (a.k.a. Run)’s band Run DMC to do the ad!

Simmons’ company Drush Advertising produced the number one testing commercial among all youth for Coca Cola in 1996. Russell Simmons formed Rush Advertising in 1999 with Donny Deutsch and their clients included Coca-Cola before shutting down in 2002.

Bill O’Reilly, U.S Fox News television presenter condemned Pepsi in 2002 (and called for a boycott of their products) for having a national 30-second TV commercial featuring Ludacris, whom he said in his music “degrades women, encourages substance abuse and does all the things that hurt particularly the poor and our society”. Pepsi subsequently withdrew the ad.

Russell Simmons through the Hip Hop Summit Action Network then in 2003 called for a boycott of Pepsi due to their double standards (launching commercials featuring the foul-mouthed Osbournes after pulling the Ludacris spots). Simmons said on villagevoice.com in 2003 "When Ludacris was dropped my response was I went and bought a beverage company. I didn’t give a fuck. Ludacris didn’t care; they paid him … The problem came up with the inconsistency."

The boycott was to continue until three demands were met: that Pepsi issued a public apology to Ludacris and to hiphop culture, that the soda company donate $5 million to the non-profit organization Ludacris Foundation and that the withdrawn commercial be reinstated.

Simmons is the founder and chair of the Hiphop Summit Action Network (HSAN), which is led by Dr. Ben Chavis, former Executive Director of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People). HSAN is in theory a non-profit, non-partisan national coalition of musicians, entertainment businesspeople, education advocates, civil rights campaigners and youth leaders dedicated to harnessing the power of hiphop culture to be used as leverage for advocacy on education issues and other societal concerns and to enhance the well-being of youth throughout the United States. It's agenda includes universal healthcare, a living wage, slavery reparations and an end to mandatory minimum drug offence sentencing.

But should the Hiphop culture be protesting over a mere commercial endorsement when their country is at war and there is violence in their own streets? It could be argued that Simmons’ plan (reported on reuters.com) to announce the boycott of Pepsi during a star-studded and high-profile weekend featuring NBA’s All-Star game in rival Coca Cola’s (and Ludacris’) home town of Atlanta was strategically timed, but in the end the announcement was brought forward as news of the action quickly circulated.

The vegan Russell Simmons (who sells leather goods as CEO of Phat Farm with their shoe ranges etc) in 2003 in a private capacity joined the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaign against global restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken. He has appeared in adverts and twice publicly called for a boycott of KFC. Why has Russell Simmons singled these two companies out for boycotts? Why is he not calling for a boycott of Reebok, who have recently withdrawn a commercial featuring 50 Cent from British television after viewers complained that it glamorised guns?

At the time of the Pepsi boycott Simmons was the President of Def Jam Records: Ludacris was one of his Def Jam artists. Pepsi (whose main competitor in the worldwide soft drinks market is Coca Cola) and KFC are both owned by Yum! Brands.

Pirelli Tires state on their website that they are a proud sponsor of the Hiphop Summit Action Network (HSAN), a non-profit organization, “To this end, Pirelli has lent its patented slogan ‘Power Is Nothing Without Control’ to the HSAN effort.” Pirelli say their involvement in the movement is “born out of the very close ties between Hiphop and the high-performance, customized niche of cars and SUVs where we have a significant presence.”

This is extremely worrying. The hiphop generation are rallying behind a corporate slogan.

It was announced that in late 2004 Playstation 2 had teamed with the Hiphop Summit Action Network to present the Race to the Polls, an event created “to help stimulate young voters to participate in the upcoming presidential election”. At a concert at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on October 14, a crowd of 2,000 people got the chance to see a show by Mary J. Blige, Ludacris and Public Enemy. “Further unifying hiphop and interactive entertainment to connect with today's young voters”, PlayStation 2 also hosted a celebrity gaming competition on the ‘ultimate driving simulator’, the game Gran Turismo 4.

Scott Evans wrote on metamute.com in 2004 that Russell Simmons had “raised eyebrows with his conspicuous use of product placement at HSAN events”, promoting Sony's PlayStation 2 to his own energy drink, Def-Con 3. Russell Simmons' Def Jam Records went into business with Columbia Records/ Sony Music in 1985. In 1995 Polygram Music bought out Sony's half-interest in Def Jam.

A March 2005 LA fashion show called Prêt a PSP was part of series to launch the new handheld Sony PSP game console featured ‘one of a kind’ PSP accessories, including a pure gold PSP case with seven carats of yellow and black diamonds encrusted on the front and back from Baby Phat By (Russell’s wife) Kimora Lee Simmons featuring Simmons Jewelry Company’ (sic). A joint venture of husband and wife may result in some long names. It reportedly retailed at $35,000.

This is a sample extract from Chris Byrne's book 'Soft Drinks and Hard Rhymes', which is currently being developed as a TV documentary by an independent TV production company in London, England...

Check out Chris's blog here

www.defjam.com

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