1. I am a neat freak.
2. I listen to Sango and Hippie Sabotage on Pandora.
3. I’m the only singer who has been incarcerated and had a No. 1 record at the same time.
4. I’ve trained in martial arts and boxing.
5. I own 14 Burger Kings.
6. I paint monsters that are mirror images of people’s negative views of me.
7. I was 13 when I got my first tattoo.
8. I don’t bite my tongue.
9. I freestyle all my songs.
10. I love to paint murals, and then I donate most of the profits to charity.
11. I recently went to church for the first time in 15 years and loved it.
12. I am a huge comic book fan.
13. I direct or codirect and edit all my videos.
14. I bought my mom a $1 million dollar house when I was 15 years old.
15. I don’t eat beef or pork.
16. I talk to a pastor twice a week.
17. When I was 6, I witnessed a relative attempt to commit suicide.
18. I’m a man of many emotions.
19. My first car was a Lamborghini.
20. I smile a lot because this world doesn’t allow for people to cry.
21. After creating my clothing line, I made $4 million in the first year.
22. I love dancing with my daughter [Royalty, 15 months].
23. I love to help choose my daughter’s outfits.
24. Success or money never changed who I am as a person.
25. I think the best thing God created was a woman.

How Did I Get Here?

Russell Simmons

Producer and entrepreneur

Education
August Martin High School, Jamaica, New York, class of 1975
City College of New York

Work Experience
1979–84

Music manager
1984–98

We signed Beastie Boys and Kanye West

Co-founder, Def Jam Recordings
1992–2004

Founder and chief executive officer, Phat Fashions
1995–Present

Co-founder and chairman, RUSH Philanthropic Arts Foundation
2003–Present

Co-founder, UniRush
2007–Present

Author
2007–14

Founder and chairman, Global Grind
2007–Present

Founder, Simmons Design Group
2013–Present

Co-founder, Narrative
2013–Present

Operating chairman, All Def Digital

Life Lessons
“It’s fun if you say it is.”
TWEET THIS
“You can’t fail till you quit.”
TWEET THIS
“Block out 20 minutes every morning for meditation.”
TWEET THIS

Argyleculture bow tie

“I have a lot of fun designing clothes for Argyleculture and Tantris, our yoga line.”

With daughters Aoki and Ming Lee during the Bombay Sapphire Art for Life event, 2014