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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2014)
Arts & Entertainment ‘Success Through Stillness’ Rap Mogul Reaps Benefits from Meditation Regimen Kam Williams Special To The Skanner News M aster entrepreneur and visionary Rus- sell Simmons has influenced virtually all aspects of business and media: in music with the cofounding of the immense- ly successful Def Jam Recordings; in the fashion industry with the trailblaz- ing Phat Pharm, Baby Phat, Run Athletics, and Def Jam University clothing lines; in television with HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and Russell Simmons Presents Def talent a chance by exposing them to Hollywood, which is very segregated. Holly- wood is full of very liberal people, but it still has an infrastructure that needs to be broken. So, my idea is to integrate black stars into mainstream stars. It hasn’t been explored properly. That’s what Im doing in Hollywood. And that’s what All Def Digital is doing. I’m probably going to shoot TV 10 pilots this year. KW: Any ideas you care to share at this point? RS: One’s a detective show for J.B. Smoove. Sitting in stillness has got to be the greatest asset I have in terms of attaining happiness. Nothing increases happiness like quiet time. Poetry; on Broadway with the Tony Award-winning stage production Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam; in digital with All Def Digi- tal, All Def Music, and Nar- rative; as well as numerous other ventures in the finan- cial services industry, mobile communications, and philanthropy. A native New Yorker cur- rently residing in Los Ange- les, Mr. Simmons is the proud father of two daugh- ters. Here, he talks about his new book: Success through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple. University Book Store will host Russell Simmons at a free book talk and sign- ing event on Monday, March 24, 7 p.m., at Univer- sity Temple United Methodist Church in the U District, 1415 NE 43rd Street, Seattle. He will be in conversation with interfaith leader Jamal Rahman to discuss Simmons’ new book Suc- cess Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple. Parking is available across the street at Universi- ty Book Store. Kam Williams: Hi Rush, thanks for the time. Russell Simmons: My man, how you feel? KW: Great! How about you brother? RS: I’m doing fine. I’m still moving around, Kam. I’m in Texas at the South by Southwest Music Festival announcing All Def Digi- tal’s partnership with Sam- sung. We’re building a platform to put a song out every week for 52 weeks called ADD52. KW: Why’d you start All Def Digital? RS: To give all this black C ELEBRITY I NTERVIEW by Kam Williams moments that make you laugh or happy are seconds of stillness. At the shock of a joke, everything disap- pears but the present moment. When you read a book, and it’s really, really beautiful, you’re so engaged you forget to breathe. If you’re in a car accident, and everything moves slowly, you can be shocked into the present. The past and the future disappear. Here’s Another’s a remake of a classic black movie that would star Chris Tucker. And I have a pilot called The Re-Education of Oliver Cooper starring the white kid from Project X where follows a black girl to a black university, like in Legally Blonde. I have so many fun projects. Another one, written by the guy from Friday [DJ Pooh], has kids from Compton growing weed in a house in Bel Air. KW: Recently, Ride Along, did very well, despite its having a black principal cast. It was #1 at the box-office a few weeks in a row. RS: Yeah, but 86% of its audience was made up of people of color. That tells you that the full potential of many black stars won’t be realized until their audi- ences are fully integrated. No one wants to sell to just 12% of the population for the entire length of their careers. It creates a difficult and less-profitable environ- ment. But Hollywood has lived with that limiting mantra, and only a few black stars have managed to break through. It’s a whole world which needs to be changed. Fortunately, Hol- lywood is open to change. It’s just a question of how to go about doing it. KW: Good luck with that. Let’s talk about your new book. AALBC’s Troy John- son asks: How long have you been practicing medita- tion and how has it helped you? RS: 20 years. Sitting in stillness has got to be the greatest asset I have in terms of attaining happi- ness. Nothing increases happiness like quiet time. The truth is, the only Page 8 The Portland and Seattle Skanner March 19, 2014 another great example. If you play basketball, you get into the zone. You can’t miss. That’s the expansive mindset we’re all seeking. But that only comes when the mind is quiet and sepa- rate from the noise. And the greatest tool to eliminate the noise is meditation. KW: Environmental activist Grace Sinden says: With people connected increasingly to their “apps” and the 24-hour cycle of often-disturbing news, it is more necessary than ever to have quiet and Stillness in our lives. She asks: Did you write this book somewhat as a reaction to the noisy, always-connected culture Russell Simmons we live in? RS: The always-connect- ed culture isn’t as much a contributor as Grace might think. The nervous mind, the monkey mind, will cre- ate its own noise. It doesn’t need a new toy. Sometimes, a new toy, a new technolo- gy, will focus you. The world is always trying to draw you out, so you always have to remember to go in. I didn’t write this book in See SIMMONS on page 7
