Rolling out spent the day with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons to shoot an upcoming cover for the publication. During our time with the legendary figure, we covered everything from politics to the state of hip-hop. Since there was no way we could possibly share all of the information in one story, we thought it’d be best to share some now, and save some for later. Here is a first look at Russell Simmons.
You have a new reality show, “Running Russell Simmons” that’s set to launch on Oxygen. What was the inspiration behind that?
I have a lot of foundations and companies, and we felt like this was a great opportunity to not only showcase some of the things that I do, but to also feature the great people that work behind the scenes to make all of this possible.
You don’t experience much turnover in your company. Why is that?
I would like to believe that our management style is the reason that we retain so many of our employees. We have developed a corporate culture, and our saying is that everyone in the building is a servant … I’m a servant. My job is to make others better. When the interns come in, our job is to make them and everyone else better. And we keep working on them until they are ready to be the boss.
In 2008, there seemed to be this energy that suggested that America had become more racially tolerant with the election of Obama. Do you think that’s still the case?
I actually think that we’re more intolerant. And I usually have more research to back a claim like that, but I just have a feeling that this country is now more intolerant to other races and religions.
**The Russell Simmons cover hits the street Oct. 28**
