Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons has completed a deal with the record label he co-founded twenty years ago to set up a new music company. LA Reid, chairman of Universal division **Island
Def Jam**, yesterday confirmed he has entered a joint venture with the Def Jam co-founder which will be known as the Russell
Simmons Music Group. Simmons will head up the new company, though
Def Jam A&R executive Tony Austin will run its day to day operations. Simmons will also act as a consultant to IDJ as part of the deal.
Announcing the deal, Reid told reporters: "Russell Simmons is one of the guiding spirits and musical godfathers of hip hop in
America and around the world. He is a forward-thinking innovator with a profound awareness of every nuance that the movement is going through. It has always been my intention to structure a situation that would keep Russell in the Island Def Jam family, and I am proud that we will be able to continue to accomplish our goals together."
Simmons added: "The reason I'm back in the music business is because
I'm inspired by the wonderful opportunity to work again directly with LA Reid and [new Def Jam boss] Jay-Z. The opportunity to develop, help and protect young artists as they seek out their own truth deep inside of them and to express that truth to a world that's thirsty for the genius of hip-hop and pop culture, is a blessing of a lifetime."
The new company's first releases will come from Reverend Run (Simmons' brother Joseph Simmons and one half of seminal hip hop duo Run
DMC) and a three-sister R&B group called Buddafly.