Simmons and Cuomo have a history of working together. The pair worked to have New York’s strict drug laws modified. Cuomo nor his office has responded to Simmons’ ideas. Would you rather drink cow milk or soy? Does anybody still drink milk anymore? Share your thoughts.

Hit up Hip Hop Wired for more information.

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Entertainment mogul Russell Simmons and comedian JB Smoove are teaming up to tickle your funny bone.  “Russell Simmons Presents The Ruckus” will kick off on Comedy Central  January 26th 10 P.M. EST with two back to back episodes.

Hey Ladies! D’Angelo Is On Tour

Each episode will feature Smoove performing new material along with a mix of rising new stars and established comedians including: Will Sylvince, Capone, Tony Rock and Rob Stapleton.

Smoove previously hosted “Russell Simmons Presents Stand Up at The El-Ray” and his first 1 hour stand comedy special ” JB Smoove: That’s How I Dooz It” will air January 21st 10 P.M. EST.

Check out this clip of JB Smoove’s stand up:

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Want To Occupy Manhattan?

The shirt reads “Occupy All Streets” crossing out the “W” and adding an “S”, a clever play on words and pretty consistent with the style of T-shirts the company has released in the past. However, the Business Insider asked if any profits from the sale of the shirt would go to the organizers of the Wall Street protests. Rocawear responded with the following statement:

“The ‘Occupy All Streets’ T-shirt was created in support of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Rocawear strongly encourages all forms of constructive expression, whether it be artistic, political or social. ‘Occupy All Streets’ is our way of reminding people that there is change to be made everywhere, not just on Wall Street. At this time we have not made an official commitment to monetarily support the movement.”

Jay-Z is by no means the first person to create paraphernalia inspired by the protests. An entire collection of shirts can be found at websites like THIS (CLICK HERE). Is Jay-Z being questioned simply because he is a bajillionaire? And if proceeds were to go to anyone, who would they go to? The Occupy Movement is hardly a monolith and has many different factions.

Yes, it is ironic to capitalize on a movement against Capitalism but isn’t that the American way?

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Russell Simmons stopped by VH1′s “Big Morning Buzz Live” earlier today to discuss Heavy D’s influence on hip-hop. Simmons said when he and Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell first listened to “Mr. Big Stuff” they were blown away by Heavy’s vocals and melody. Simmons goes on to say “Heavy was the first R&B rapper to be accepted. They built Uptown records and the new jack swing sound on his ideas.”

Heavy D passed away yesterday at the age of 44.

Watch interview below:

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On Friday (October 14th), Simmons and the elusive Rubin spoke at the New York Public Library in front of hundreds about the history covered in the book. Before moderator Paul Holdengraber brought the duo to the stage, he read their self-written seven-word introductions. “Def Jam showed me power of faith,” were the words selected by Simmons who rocked a Yankee’s cap, red hoodie, black t-shirt and jeans. Rubin’s self-description stated, “Rick Rubin is a fan of music.”

After all were seated, Holdengraber informed the audience that Rubin, dressed in a black t-shirt, shorts and bare feet, requested everyone in the room close their eyes for three minutes to focus on their breathing and meditate before the conversation got started. The exercise may seem strange, but it must have been effective, because there was a lot of knowledge, wisdom and good vibes in the room.

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Intention
When Def Jam was created, Rubin and Simmons were not doing it for the money, and they had no idea that their little label founded in Rubin’s New York University dorm room would influence a culture. “I’m surprised it ended up being out jobs,” said Rubin.

Their shared goal for the label was to take the hip-hop that was previously only heard in the clubs and put it on wax to “document what hip-hop was like,” Rubin explained. He also just wanted to “help artists make the best music they possibly could.” Simmons observed about Rubin, “He gave people room to breath.”

Unlikely Genius
Rick Rubin was in a punk rock band before Def Jam was launched, and Russell Simmons described his longtime business partner simply, by calling him a “genius.” Rubin wasn’t from the streets, and was first exposed to hip-hop at Manhattan nightclub Negril. But his upbringing didn’t prevent Rubin from getting “swept up” in the culture during its early days.

When talking about Rubin’s process as a producer of some of hip-hop’s most successful early recordings, Simmons recalled, “he made them the way no one could.”

Rubin saw the parallels in rock and hip-hop, and he successfully merged the two genres with “Fight For Your Right (To Party)” by the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC’s groundbreaking collaboration with Aerosmith, “Walk This Way.” Rubin explained his strategy back then and said, “Walk This Way” had an “actual purpose. I wanted to find a song to help bridge the gap” since rock and hip-hop weren’t that different. Public Enemy even seemed to draw inspiration from legendary punk rockers the Clash.

Race Relations
As a Black man working with a White man, Simmons recognized their obvious and latent differences, but described them as “inspiring.” Rubin’s lighter skin didn’t prevent him from connecting with pro-Black material, and he had a deeply emotional reaction to Public Enemy’s pivotal It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. He remembers tearing up and then crying after hearing it for the first time, because “it was so beautiful, so revolutionary, so strong.”

As a White man, Rubin recognized that some of the messages rapped by Public Enemy’s Chuck D weren’t always easy to hear because “it’s a lot of truth that’s hard to digest.” Nevertheless, Rubin consistently defended the group’s right to free speech.

Public Enemy had an important impact on hip-hop culture as a whole, and especially Black people. Simmons described the effect of the PE’s leader Chuck D and credits him for “taking the gold chains off people’s necks and putting on black medallions.” He adds, “It was a positive change.”

End Of An Era
Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin built Def Jam, so when they severed their business ties, many assumed it affected their friendship, but that wasn’t the case. The reason for their professional split was stemmed around the rapid growth of their business. Rubin remembered how they lacked infrastructure, which led to confusion and tension.

Simmons and Rubin may not be with Def Jam anymore, but they are forever linked to this legendary record label. Even though they are the unofficial faces of the company, they didn’t do it alone, and Simmons concluded the conversation by stating, “I went along for ride with a lot of talented people.”

If you want to read the full history of Def Jam, order Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label, which is co-authored by TheUrbanDaily‘s Editorial Director Dan Charnas.

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Rick Rubin’s dorm room
11 University Place, New York University

When: 1984

What: The future mogul and aspiring record producer agree to join forces, signing their first act, a sixteen-year-old from Queens named LL Cool J.

In celebration of Black Music Month, TheUrbanDaily’s “It’s All Black Music” presents 100 Rewarding Black Music Moments, sponsored by Southwest Airlines.

Each Black Music Moment is associated with an actual place that you can visit. During the month of June, check in to at least three of these places on Foursquare to unlock TheUrbanDaily’s exclusive “It’s All Black Music” Badge. Check out the locations and details on our Foursquare page!

The film recently had it’s New York City premiere and 50 Cent hosted an afterparty for attendees at the Mr. H at the Mondrian Soho in Downtown NY.  The event drew lots of celebs like Eve, Russell Simmons, Estelle, Floyd Mayweather, and many more!

Check out these shots from the red carpet!

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Simmons wrote a post on GlobalGrind.com about their confrontation at the awards dinner that has since been deleted.  In the post, Simmons claims that Cosby refused to talk to him. “I wanted to find him to apologize,” Simmons wrote, “to tell him I was sorry about my statements and to tell him that I loved him.”  Simmons was met with animosity from the Cos who reportedly told Uncle Russ to “get the f*ck out of my face.”

Spotted @ HipHopWired.com

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In this exclusive video premiere on TheUrbanDaily, Dan Charnas, author of the epic new book The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, bursts a few widely-held myths about hip-hop.

Myth #1: Suge Knight sprung Tupac from jail
Myth #2: The Source was the first hip-hop magazine
Myth #3: Kool Herc “invented” hip-hop
Myth #4: “Yo! MTV Raps” was the first rap video show
Myth #5: Russell Simmons Founded Def Jam

Check out the video below:

Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, is the managing editor of InteractiveOne. Charnas, a Pulitzer Prize Fellow, was one of the first writers for the Source magazine and part of the generation of young writers who helped create hip-hop journalism. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, the Washington Post, GIANT, and newspapers around the country. He spent 15 years in the music business, starting in the mailroom of Profile Records in the late 80s, and was VP of A&R for Rick Rubin’s American Recordings.

• Purchase The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop here
• Learn more about The Big Payback here.
• Think you know hip-hop history? Take “The Big Payback” Quote Quiz here

Diddy, Russell Simmons, Nick Cannon, Chris Rock and more celebs came out to support their friend.

Take a look:

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Looks like they had a nice time.

Take a look at Russell Simmons and his other model girlfriends below:

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Fun times and we can’t wait to buy a new wide screen…

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Everyone was in attendance for this event including industry big names like Andre Harrell and Lyor Cohen.

As usual, Russell had a gang on models on his arms but this time they all seemed to be darker-skinned! Selita Ebanks and Basketball Wife Jennifer Williams attended the celebration. Take a look at the pics:

The 10 Greenest Black Celebrities

In case you’re not familiar with Russell’s taste for the white meat take a look at our gallery:

HUMOR: Hustles With Russells

It’s not a headline you read everyday: “Record Exec Launches Rap Career.” The typical order of events is for a rapper to get hired to run a label or at the least become an A&R after a few years of the mic hustle. But Kevin Liles’ cousin Tony Austin is not used to doing things the usual way.

The Baltimore native started out as Liles’ driver and moved up the ranks at Def Jam records as an A&R helping to promote some of their hottest acts like DMX, Dru Hill and Ja Rule. It was one of his first jobs after serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking.

“I wanted to do things to stay in a certain lifestyle without going back to hustling,” he says of his transition to the record business. “For some people a 9 to 5 just won’t do. I’m one of those people.”

After Kevin Liles left Def Jam he linked Tony with Russell Simmons and he became the VP of Russell Simmons Music Group. But lurking in the background was Tony’s desire to be an artist. Even though he helped sign local talent like Comp to Def Jam he wants to do more to shed light on the Baltimore music scene.

“It’s just an itch that I had to scratch,” he says of his Gangsta Grillz mixtape, The Influence, and his forthcoming solo album. The first single and video, “Dope Boy,”  serves as a formal introduction to Tony Austin the rapper but even he realizes that folks might need some convincing.

So in the inaugural clip of our “Day In The Life” series TheUrbanDaily rolled down to Baltimore and followed Tony around to observe the method to his madness. He took us to his recording studio, his old Baltimore neighborhood and behind the scenes of his gentleman’s club, The 2′O clock club.

In part one he shares what his experience at Def Jam taught him about making music and how he managed to stay out of the penal system’s revolving door.

Also check out Tony Austin’s video, Dope Boy! That’s actually his son playing him in the video as a young man.

A number of Hip-Hop heavyweights will head to Trenton, New Jersey in support of this weekend’s “Stop the Violence” rally.

Hip-Hop superstar Jay-Z will head to Trenton for the rally, after hearing the shocking story of a seven-year-old girl, who was gang raped in an apartment in the city on March 28th.

Russell Simmons is hosting the event, while the Rev. Al Sharpton and other community leaders are expected to join Jay-Z for the rally, which takes place on Saturday (April 10th) at 7:00 PM at The Lighthouse Outreach ministry.

In addition to Jay-Z and Russell Simmons, rappers Ludacris, Chuck D. and Trenton’s own Wise Intelligent of the Poor Righteous Teachers will deliver taped messages to attendees.

The rally is a reaction to the shocking news about the seven-year-old, who was assaulted by seven men, ranging in age from 13 to 20 years-old.

According to reports, the girl’s 15-year-old sister took an undisclosed amount of money and sold herself and her younger sister for sex during a party at the notorious Rowan Towers, where several men touched and raped the child.

Police have arrested five men believed to be involved with the crime and they seek two more rapists, who allegedly also forcibly penetrated the young girl.

Read the whole article at AllHipHop.com.

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Congrats are in order for Daniel “Diggy” Simmons.  He’s following in his dad’s footsteps and got himself an official record deal with Atlantic Records–just 1 day after his 15th birthday.  His big sister Angela and lil bro Russy were on hand this afternoon to watch him sign his official papers.

Diggy’s mixtape The First Flight(click here to download it) has been raising some eyebrows on the net.  Especially his version of “Made You Look”.  It was only a matter of time before somebody snapped him up.

If you’re late to the game catch up on some gems from Diggy’s arsenal.

“Made You Look” Freestyle

Diggy – Made you look Freestyle (Flow Stoopid) from Diggy Simmons on Vimeo.

“Point To Prove”

(Props to YouHeardThatNew)

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Check out Russell (the King of swirl) and his new girlfriend (who’s brown-skinned!) and Robert DeNiro with his wife Grace Hightower, plus more!!

GALLERY: Russell Simmons Gets His Beach Mack On

Check out Russell Simmons with white girls below:

GALLERY: Russell Simmons Swirls With Sophie Monk

Russell Simmons might be on the hunt for his new baby mama. Check him out with a new piece on the beach!

Check out Diggy Simmons here!

Last week Diggy Simmons had the inna’net going nuts over his leaked single “Point To Prove” and now the son of Rev. Run has dropped a full mixtape of music called The First Flight. Give it a listen and download it below! (props to IllRoots.com)

Russell was spotted with yet another model on this arm last night. This time it’s up and coming model Sophie Monk!

Check out our gallery of Russell Simmons swirlin’ all the time:

Take a look at another of Russell’s girls here!

Check out more of Russ swirlin’ here!

The homie Lowkey was out at the must-see-event of last night in NYC: G-Shock The World 2009. Featuring Kanye West the tastemakers of NYC were there to do there thing. Lowkey provided the play-by-play. Check it out below:

G-Shock + Kanye West + NYC= EPIC….

First mistake of the night: Not bringing a handkerchief to clean the sweat from my forehead during my mini excursion to Cipriani’s. Second mistake: Not wearing a G-Shock Watch to an actual G-Shock event (see the watch I wore, below).

Last night the good folks of G-Shock treated a handful of patrons to an intimate showing of their new line of time pieces at the immaculate Cipriani’s restaurant on Wall St. Upon my arrival, it was sort of a blur as to what I was actually getting my self involved in.

At most, I’d arrive at the venue, look at a couple watches then witness Yeezy tear down the stage “Glow In The Dark” style. Of course, things NEVER play out in real life as they do in my head.

The security guards rallied us together like a bunch of newborn cattle around 8:30pm. They scanned our invites, ORDERED us to have a great time and ushered us in. As always, there’s one knuckle head who just magically believes he/she can gain entry without a ticket and/or valid ID. In this particular case, little Ms. I’m On The List, But I Don’t Need A Ticket In The Midst Of Everyone Else Having One thought the security guard was born 2 hours prior. “Get out of line, NOW”, he barked. I laughed and strutted inside.

Greeted by a barrage of waiters and waitresses sporting off white tops with a crisp pair of black slacks shoving glasses of Pinot Grigio down the throat of anyone who made eye contact (me likey white wine), the mood was set- Bougie STATUS.

No worries, my spidey senses led me to my crew of mavens in the corner. Dre and Jeff from ItsTheReal.com were posted near the VIP entrance downing glasses of mixed alcoholic beverages awaiting my arrival.

Jaded by the flashing lights, redundant sets of pretty faces and forced attempts to be different through various fashion individuals, Dre, Jeff and I, along with the good homeys from Complex (Noah, J La Puma…whad up, doe???) spent a majority of the time cracking on those that crossed our paths.

Around 9:15pm Cipriani’s was the spot to be. Miss Info, who almost got choked slammed for blowing on the back of my neck, discreetly made her way inside. DJ Enuff resurrected every 80’s era hip hop/rock/RnB tune known to mankind. Ebro and his magic beard, Angie Martinez and DJ Cassidy made small talk in one corner while Russell Simmons and Andre Harrell stirred up 5 mins of commotion shortly after their arrivals in another. Que and Dawn held hands tightly as they were ushered up the VIP balcony, but quickly made their exit 5 mins after. Weird.

9:45pm rolled around and Yeezy FINALLY hit the stage. Unfortunately for me, I was getting barked on via email, so my attention, well at least visually, wasn’t geared towards Ye or his stage set.

After my mini eDispute was settled, Ye became the main focus. Breezing through any tune his set provided, Mr. West’s passion was easily detected through his stage mannerisms as it always is.

“Say You Will”, yup. “Get Em High”, of course. “Run This Town” sans Jay n RiRi, hellz yeah. To say the very least, Yeezy put on a show. For anyone who’s been to a Kanye concert, you know from experience his songs SOUND nothing like the studio versions.

Some are stripped of their hip-hop persona. Others are bulked with percussion and passion. And others just rely on the lyrical flow to maneuver through the ears of the consumer. Either or, DOPE SH*T.

What’s a Kanye show without an impromptu freestyle/speech? Says Kanye about the fame, “Being famous is like being obese- it takes longer for you sit down and people love to help you.” Oh, but it didn’t stop there.

He then addressed his absence from BET Awards, “I wasn’t ready to give BET this show,” Ye explained. Shortly after, he went on to give his perspective on being harassed by the paparazzi and showing love to DJ’s citing they’re still and always will be a major part in hip-hop.

Didn’t attend? Well, I feel bad for you- IT WAS AWESOME!! Don’t worry, you can live vicariously through these DOPE and exclusive photos, below. ENJOY!

Big shouts to JEROME SHAW for handlin photographic duties last night. BOSS STATUS!

Sincerely

Low “I.DOES.THIS” Key

To check out the EXCLUSIVE shots from the show, go check out Lowkey’s BET blog by clicking here!

VIA E!:

When Kim Kardashian wants to disprove a rumor, she doesn’t mess around.

The E! star and New Orleans Saints standout Reggie Bush have broken up, Kardashian’s rep confirms to E! News, barely two months after the brunette beauty denied reports that she and Bush had been ring shopping.

Both are “very sad” about the split, a source says.

With NFL training camp about to begin, the former couple, along with Khloé Kardashian, recently returned from a trip to Africa on behalf of the Russell Simmons Diamond Empowerment Fund.

Kardashian and Bush first stepped out as a romantic item in April 2007.

The beautiful duo now joins the list of our infamous “Hip-Hop Break-Ups” gallery that you can check out below:

VIA GG:

The vast majority of Americans, including many policymakers at the highest levels of government, are still unaware of one of the most pressing economic issues facing our country. Many may think that everything newsworthy has been covered amidst the media firestorm surrounding foreclosures, banks, bailouts, and the stimulus packages that have consumed news cycle after news cycle in the last several months. Unfortunately, both in both the media and among policy-makers, there is one group that has been unceremoniously overlooked.

The Millennial Generation, those born between 1976 and 1996, the heirs to our economic legacy and ultimately the bearers of our economic destiny, are being disproportionately affected by the crisis, but continue to go unnoticed. This is even though they face unemployment at a rate more than 8% higher than the national average, suffer under a crushing average of $27,000 in student loan, $2000 in credit card debt, and a healthcare crisis that leaves 30% of them without any insurance. In addition, as young people enter the workforce, they are being pitted against individuals with much more experience than they have for the same entry level jobs due to recent layoffs, making finding a job exponentially more difficult.

This perfect economic storm will have untold negative impacts if nothing is done by Congress to address these issues now by truly investing in the Millennial Generation.

The good news is that even as young people are being overlooked by the majority of policymakers, they are stepping up to the plate to take control of their own economic destinies. Millennials are on track to be the most civically and politically engaged generation ever.

To read more of what Russell Simmons has to say, peep the full story over at Global Grind!

So Russell has gone back to black with the new girl on his arm. Her name is Noemie and guess what…she’s a model!

Read more about Russell Simmons’ girl problems here

Click here to see how Russell loves to get his swirl on!

VIA DX:

On an episode of Run’s House that will air on Monday, June 22 Rev. Run and his family will confront the recent arrest of JoJo Simmons for possession of marijuana last month.

In the episode JoJo is confronted by his two sisters Vanessa and Angela regarding what happened that night and he also speaks to his little brothers on the importance of being responsible.

“I can’t be that stupid…Russy doesn’t understand fully. Diggy do, but he’s about to go to high school and that’s where it all started for me,” JoJo explained to his sisters in a clip from the upcoming episode.

Both sisters were quick to jump to JoJo’s defense, with Vanessa Simmons showing her support for her little brother on Twitter, writing “As humans we all make mistakes. They make up your life lessons and experiences. JoJo is ok, he just made a[n] oops.”

The episode will also include Rev. Run being reminded of his wild past by brother and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons [click to read].

The episode of Run’s House, which will be the reality shows second episode in its sixth season, will air on MTV at 10:00pm ET/PT on June 22.

Check out our ‘Noisemakers’ gallery below and share your thoughts below: