Russell Simmons

Born to middle-class parents in 1957, Russell Simmons grew up in Queens, New York. He flirted with gang life, but changed his focus after he heard rap music. In the mid-1970s, its arresting, novel sound -- just beats and rhymes -- was emerging from New York's grimmest African American neighborhoods. As a promoter, Simmons started organizing concerts and managing the inner-city artists, but the music industry paid no heed. Its executives considered the 1979 smash, "Rapper's Delight," a one-time novelty. Not until 1983, when Simmons helped form the group Run-DMC, would rapping -- now part of a broader cultural phenomenon called hip-hop -- reach the mainstream. Simmons signed unknowns to Def Jam, the record label he started with producer Rick Rubin. Many of those artists, like Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow, Slick Rick, and LL Cool J, became famous. Hip-hop reached the record-buying masses. White, suburban youth grew fascinated by black urban culture. When fashion designers co-opted hip-hop styles, he created his own clothing line, Phat Farm; it would grow into a $140 million business. In 1985, he inked a music distribution deal with CBS worth $600,000. Fourteen years later, Universal would buy Def Jam for $120 million.