Russell Simmons Photoessay

Def Jam stars Run DMC and the Beastie Boys pose atop a restaurant in midtown Manhattan on Monday, May 11, 1987.

Flavor Flav and Chuck D. of the rap group Public Enemy, pose for photographers at the MTV Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, 1994. The group changed the face of rap music while on Russell Simmons' Def Jam label.

Russell Simmons, left, Paul Stanley, Carole King and Gene Simmons, right, pose for photographers with the 2001 Heroes Awards, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001, in New York. The New York Chapter of the Recording Academy honored them for their contributions to the music industry.

Russell Simmons smiles in a showroom for his successful Phat-Farm clothing line, adjacent to his office in New York, April 16, 2002.

Russell Simmons, center, embraces an unidentified man before entering Allen AME Cathedral for the funeral of Jam Master Jay a.k.a. Jason Mizell of the groundbreaking rap group Run DMC Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2002, in the Queens borough of New York. Mizell was shot in his recording studio

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left, talks with Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons on Capitol Hill Friday, Jan. 17, 2003 during a civil rights forum.

Rapper Eminem, left, greets Russell Simmons backstage during the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit at Cobo Arena in Detroit on Saturday, April 26, 2003.

Russell Simmons unfolds his acceptance speech before accepting the Tony award for Best Special Theatrical Event for "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway" as the cast of Simmon's production celebrate during the 57th Annual Tony Awards Sunday, June 8, 2003, at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Russell Simmons, left, chairman of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, is joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, at a news conference in New York, July 15, 2003. Simmons announced his endorsement of Gov. George Pataki's proposal to overhaul the Rockefeller-era drug laws that require long prison sentences for possession and sale of even small amounts of narcotics.

Russell Simmons, right, chairman of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, smiles at singer Carly Simon during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, July 15, 2003.

Russell Simmons shakes hands with World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon during a news conference Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 to announce the partnership between Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and World Wrestling Entertainment's Smackdown Your Vote to launch a non-partisan campaign to register two million 18-to-30-year-olds.

Russell Simmons, left, and his brother, Run-DMC's Joseph "Run" Simmons, pose for photographers during arrivals of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's first annual Action Awards benefit and dinner, Tuesday, Nov 18, 2003, in New York.