Customer Reviews

Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, + God

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I know what you are thinking. If this book is so bad, why did I give it four stars? First of all, the book only deserved 3 ½ stars but unfortunately that is not an option due to technical difficulties (this is my first review!).

Second, this is a very interesting story about a self-made millionaire who pioneered and profited from an industry that didn't exist 30 years ago. However, this book leaves a lot to be desired.

Life & Def sets sail with a strong start. Simmons details his childhood and introduces his creative family. He explains the strong influence of his mother (the free-spirit painter who encouraged her children to seek non-traditional occupations), and his father (the writer who believed in a 9-5, but encouraged artistic expressions and even wrote lyrics for Run DMC!) Despite the strong start, the ship soon goes off course. Simmons bombards you with names, (random) dates, and industry specific terms. He gives brief overviews of important milestones such as his successful HBO show Def Comedy Jam, only to return (briefly again!) later in the book.

My love of hip-hop and desire for entrepreneurial success pushed me through the choppy waters of this book. I especially struggled to stay afloat during the last 30 pages. By this time I was mentally exhausted from wading through oceans of acronyms, abbreviations, and run-on sentences. Simmons offers a plethora of advice. He candidly shares his mistakes and regrets in an attempt to save the reader from the same. However, he gives you a map for success omitting the last leg of the trip! At the end of the book, I was lost at sea searching for answers to the many issues that plagued the author. The best example of this is the recurring theme of drugs. Simmons readily admits that he heavily indulged in everything from marijuana, to cocaine, to angel dust (his hallucinogen of choice.) He then briefly (3 pages!) outlines how yoga led him in his quest for spirituality. He never mentions when (or if?) he discontinued the heavy drug use.

Despite the poor writing, this book is a must read for any hip-hop lover or entrepreneur. He does provide facts, tips, do's, and don't's, of any business. However, this book does his story no justice. Call me old fashioned, but I still think that the best way to write an autobiography is in chronological order. As an avid reader and aspiring writer, Life & Def reinforced the importance of a good EDITOR.

Anyone who knows anything about Def Jam or Russell Simmons in general will realize this is an EXTREMELY top-line look at the man who is largely responsible for turning hip hop into its own hybrid of corporate culture. A lot of people who were players in the development of the def jam image or long-time soldiers in his camp are not mentioned, significant events are left out and certain explanations of what went down or his motivations behind important decisions are vague at best. Even seemingly positive, life-altering subjects are left undiscussed. He shows a picture of his "model" wife's pregnant, naked stomach in the photo section and credits her with being the most beautiful, intelligent woman he's ever met but doesn't even tell how he met her or why he (the most notorious "model chaser" around) picked this particular one to marry.

Russ does spin some interesting tales and makes a few insightful comments about certain hip hop artists and how some of his deals were structured, but overall that's not enough. If you're really hoping to take a look into the soul of America's favorite hip hop impressario or hoping to pick up pointers on how to hone your music biz skills, look elsewhere.

russell simmons is the man who set the blueprint for the hip-hop game and he breaks down how to do it for anyone who wants to know how to turn a hot culture into a long-term industry. he explains how he started def jam, his philosophy about finding and promoting artists, how he launched phat farm, how he launched def comedy jam, how he produced movies like the "nutty professor." russell didn't get anything easy--he had to fight against the gatekeepers who didn't understand hip-hop, but in the process he created the blueprint for how to take a powerful, but marginal, culture global. if you're someone interested in business or hip-hop, this is the book for you.

Like you, I always thought Russell Simmons was a bigger than life, take no prisoners kind of personality. Who knew that Russell is as sensitive as Oscar Wilde and as munificient as Greg Louganis? Oh sure, he acts all tough in interviews, but this book peels away the layers and shows that Russell's heart beats just like yours and mine -- maybe more -- definitely better.

For example, did you know that Mr. Simmons was voted "Top Alto" in his high school glee club? Did you also know he was the ghost writer of "Wind Beneath My Wings"? What about the notion that Russell Simmons will never tip less than 14% -- even if the service is bad?

And what really suprised me, is that he curiously names REO Speedwagon as the band he admires the most.

I salute you Mr. Simmons and hope that this is just the first of his many, many super intelligent and unbelievably insightful self-serving books.

I've read this book once all throughout, and now I'm in my second reading highlighting key points Russell Simmons had made during the course of his writing.

If you are an independent rap or hiphop artist (hell, ANY independent music artist) or got plans for starting your own record label, this book is a perfect start for you.

Not that it'll give you direct information regarding how to start your own label, but it will give you an idea of what it takes to be successful out there. What it gave me, as an independent rapper myself (you can see how I choose to implement some of his points into our hip-hop blueprint by checking out my group's site, http://www.audiblemcs.com), are ideas on how to effectively market my music by laying out the Def Jam's blueprint to success.

Several points that Russell Simmons made that I believe is worth mentioning are ::

1.) How you should properly build your audience
2.) What he did to make corporate America and the mainstream to adapt to his standards, not the other way around
3.) What it is about HIS brand of hip-hop that made it so successful
4.) The importance of branding and having your own identity
5.) How he got popular as a show promoter through networking and marketing
6.) How he managed to break one of their first records, "Christmas Rappin" and used it to further their success
7.) The demise of Sugar Hill Records
8.) Why you can't really expect to get rich off selling records (he uses the concept of an album as your calling card to other money generators)
9.) Touches on how him and Rick Rubin ran Def Jam in the earlier days

...and many more valuable industry insights from the words of an established player out there.

Indeed, it does not give you everything you need to know. There are no exact figures, no exact steps on you should take, etc. But that's exactly what the music business is: you cannot copy exactly what another did and expect to succeed on your own. The point of this book is to lay out Def Jam's blueprint to success in the music industry. It is up to you to study it, figure out what it is he did that worked and didn't, and incorporate those success points into your OWN plan.

Not to mention, his 5 lessons in business is something EVERYBODY interested in doing some sort of music-related business should read. Good day.

When I first started reading this book there became a point when I wanted to stop because of the writing being so horrible. Russell Simmons uses so much profanity and I know that he believes that he is being real by doing so much cursing. However, at the same time the usage of so much profanity shows a lack of creativity in the usage of the English language.

However, in the middle of book the until the end of it Mr. Simmons gave us some valuable information about how the big parent record companies really don't want to see companies like Def Jam, Uptown, and other companies that specialize in producing hip hop artists to succeed. In the same aspect Russell Simmons sheds some light on Andre Harrell firing Puff Daddy from Uptown records and how the big executives at MCA did not like Puffy or Biggie Smalls levels of success which was too great for the executives over at MCA to handle. The book is a must read for all people aspiring to enter the music game period and how recording artists are really at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to points, royalties (money) and most of all respect.

This book was really good, but Russell kept jumping back and forth in time which confused me a great deal. Nevertheless just because this book was poorly written does not take away that Russell Simmons is a genius and great role model for a lot of us to look up to for guidance. This book has given me a higher level of respect for Mr. Simmons and the hip hop world, which I was already a big fan of many artists like LL Cool J, De la Soul, NAS, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, Queen Latifah, Mc Lyte, Jungle Brothers, Tribe Called Quest and I could go on for hours listing artists that just move me whenever I hear them.

Russel Simmons book was just like listening to his music. Simmons invited the rest of the world to listen, but he was truly writing to his base audience. Simmons was not trying to be Cornel West and talk about black xenophobia, but the evolution of hip hop.

To put it simple Russel Simmons was trying to communicate to his audience one point: "He {Simmons} was not trying to 'pimp' the system, but change the system", period.

Simply put: "Life and Def" does the best job of illustrating (with real life examples) how to survive and thrive in the music industry. This is the most important book for urban entrepreneurs to own.

Buy it today!

This book should attract anyone, because of the many fields Russell has been in. I read this book in three sitting and I NEVER read books, and afterwards I felt as if a could accomplish anything.

As you may have read some may say that they expected more. You have to read deeper into the book. I believe this is a great book, it shy's away from the glamour and focuses on the reality. Many may think that the industry and the super star lifestyle is a lucky life but it is a hard life, one that you choose the dedicate your life to. Russell gives you insight on the situations and how to handle them. Wisdom has been passed on and only of you have the same drive will you understand the message.