Simmons touts America's 'greatest poets'

Joann Grose - The Charlotte Observer
Published: Friday, November 21, 2003

His New York office patches through the phone call to the high priest of hip-hop at JFK airport. Russell Simmons, the man who brought urban street culture into the pop mainstream, is waiting for a flight to San Francisco.

In the meantime, he's happy to talk about "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam," the Tony Award-winning ruckus raising the Belk Theater roof on Monday.

For those out of the pop-culture loop, the word "Def" does not indicate a tie-in with "The Miracle Worker." It's an archaic hip-hop word meaning "good" or "great." Back when Simmons started Def Jam Records, of course, the term was hip-hot and Simmons was one of the most important businessmen in the burgeoning world of rap.

Simmons and Rick Rubin founded Def Jam Records in 1984 with $4,000 and a stable of unknowns included Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and later Public Enemy. In 1999 Simmons sold his 40 percent share of the label to Universal Music Group for a reported $100 million.

In 1991, he began producing "Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam" on HBO. He added "Def Poetry Jam" in 2001. "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway" opened last November, in time to be elible for a 2003 Tony award. It won best theatrical special event this past June. The Broadway show ran for about seven months, never making a profit but leading to the national tour coming to Charlotte.

"My opinion," says Simmons, 46, of the young cast coming to Charlotte, "is that these are the greatest poets America has ever created. They were born into poetry. They dress up - they're wearing poetry. They were born with hip-hop, and they become great poets reflecting the art in which they were born."

The poets are young and diverse. "They speak to a lot of kinds of Americans," he says.

The Broadway cast included nine poets and a DJ. On the road audiences get one less poet.

Beau Sia, Black Ice, Mayda Del Valle, Georgia Me, Suheir Hammad, Lemon and Poetri all starred in the Broadway production. Nigeria-born Bassey Ikpi and DJ Jedi are new to this tour.

The music is minimal, he says, because more music would make the spoken words into something else - namely rap. "When there's no music," Simmons says, "there's more reflection of truth."

After his unimaginable success as a pioneering hip-hop exec, Simmons used the money from the Def Jam sale to launch Phat Farm, a men's clothing line, followed by Baby Phat for women. He produced Eddie Murphy's comeback hit "The Nutty Professor" (1996), and launched One World, a hip-hop lifestyle magazine.

Early this year the Simmons-organized Action Network made headlines, calling for a Pepsi boycott when the soda giant dropped rapper Ludacris as a spokesman.

Besides being a globe-trotting business exec, Russell Simmons today is a husband and father of two, a practicing vegan, an aspiring yogi and a political activist.

Should you think of poetry as something more staid, Simmons asks? That's cool, he says, but please, allow a live performance of "Def Poetry" to expand your literary horizons.

What makes a poem is heart, he says, "something that touches the heart." Also, Def Poetry has "a lot of social and political discussion, a lot of relationships. A lot of it's very, very funny."

Simmons has two well-known brothers. Younger brother Joey was Run of Run DMC until the death of Jam Master Jay forced the group's retirement. Older brother Danny is an artist, author and editor.

"DEF-initely Simmons," an exhibit of Danny Simmons' paintings, is up at the Noel Gallery, 401 N. Tryon St.

On Saturday Danny Simmons will be at the gallery from noon to 3 p.m. for a poetry-slam winners presentation and from 6 to 9 p.m. for a reception, art and book sale and signing.

The "DEF-initely Simmons" exhibit runs through Dec. 27. More information on the exhibit and Danny Simmons' events only: (704)343-0050.