EXPOSED: Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons Almost Murdered a Man During Teen Years
Russell Simmons wrote about the time he nearly shot a man in his autobiography.
Feb. 14 2024, Published 7:45 p.m. ET
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons got caught up in the fast life of crime years before he founded Def Jam and became embroiled in scandal, RadarOnline.com can report.
The record executive admitted that during his teenage years, he nearly killed a man who had ripped him off two weeks earlier.
The record executive admitted that during his teenage years, he nearly killed a man who had ripped him off two weeks earlier.
For Simmons, that memory still lived on and he wrote about the shocking incident in the pages of his 2001 autobiography, Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God.
"Everything slowed down for me," he wrote in his book. "I held up my .45, aimed at Red's back and fired. But my bullet sailed over his head, and the last I saw of Red were his feet swinging over a wall."
That day and all of its nuances were permanently etched into his mind, Simmons confessed in hindsight. He wrote, "I can still hear the voices of the drug dealers running through my head and feel the heat of the gun in my hand. It's a feeling I've never forgotten."
The record executive went on to found the label Def Jam Recordings, which has since been caught up in controversy after a former music video producer sued Simmons on Tuesday.
Simmons wrote that he later learned Red and his brother were killed in a botched liquor store robbery. "In my heart, I knew that missing Red was the best thing I ever did," the entrepreneur added. "The truth is that Red was just running toward a bullet anyway. I guess the liquor store owner was a better shot than me."
During his younger years, Simmons revealed that he also started dealing marijuana. "The sad thing is how many of my peers were killed by the drug lifestyle," he shared. "Some got hit in the heat by thieves one time too many. Some got shot. Some died of AIDS in jail. The common denominator was drugs — they were all killed pursuing a high or selling a high."
Russell met now-ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons during New York Fashion Week in 1992, and they wed in 1998. The former couple split in 2006.
The record executive went on to found the label Def Jam Recordings, which has since been caught up in controversy after a former music video producer sued Simmons on Tuesday.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, alleged he sexually assaulted her when she worked for the company in the late 1990s.
"Doe was forcefully pinned, could not move under his weight and Mr. Simmons would not listen to her," the docs alleged.
Simmons previously denied wrongdoing after the women came forward.
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Simmons was also accused of sexual assault in 2017. After multiple women came forward with allegations against him, he stepped down from his roles at the label and his yoga lifestyle brand.
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Simmons previously denied crossing the line in Dec. 2023. "I've never been violent to anybody," he said in a statement. "Of course I've been insensitive, but certainly never been forceful in any of my relationships, all of which I've had have been consensual."
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