Rush Hour

If it were empty, the executive suite at Rush Communications, the conglomerate owned by Russell Simmons, could be that of any CEO. Look around, and you'll see hardwood floors covered by intricate oriental rugs, a set of deep red, tufted leather couches and chairs, a mahogany desk, and the requisite 43rd-floor views of midtown Manhattan that span both rivers. You expect no noise other than the hushed tones of a secretary whispering that an appointment has arrived.

But that's not exactly this CEO's style. In Russell Simmons's office, Lord Nez, an intern, breaks out into a spontaneous rap while helping Simmons choose a pink Phat Farm suit for tonight's MTV Video Music Awards. The door is wide open, a good thing because it's often blocked by a stream of designers, friends, and employees trickling in and out without advance notice, asking Simmons to sign this or approve that. The phone is either ringing or Simmons is using it, all the while thumbing messages on his Motorola two-way like a madman, talking a blue streak to a reporter, and pouring a mysterious ochre-colored powder into a bottle of Evian (that's lunch). Forget about power ties: Simmons makes his executive statement with floppy Phat Farm jeans, spotless white sneakers, a neon-green Polo shirt, and a pink Barbie Band-Aid behind his ear.

Brrriinng! Simmons is calling Reverend Run, one-third of the famous rap group Run-DMC (aka Simmons's own little brother Joey) to talk about the sneaker company they co-own.

Brrriinng! It's Dr. Benjamin Chavis, the former head of the NAACP and now president and CEO of Rush's Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, who wants to prep for a corporate meeting.

Brrriinng! Kimora Lee Simmons, a former Chanel model, Simmons's wife of four years and the designer of Rush's Baby Phat women's and girls' clothing lines, is on the phone, fretting that she doesn't feel like going to the MTV awards. "It's okay, honey," he teases. "I'll just take [sexy female rap star] Foxy Brown." (Kimora didn't make it, but Simmons showed up with his brother instead.)

This attention-deficit-disorder-as-management-style is an amazing thing to behold. It's also business as usual for Simmons, arguably the most creative, successful, and respected African-American entrepreneur of the moment. He has built a career--and incubated a vast array of businesses--on the simple premise that the music and culture of today's urban youth have broad commercial appeal across the United States and around the world. As hip-hop has blossomed in Iowa, Connecticut, and Paris, so too have Simmons's wealth, power, and influence. "I consider him one of the great entrepreneurs out there today," says his pal Donald Trump. "He's a fabulous guy with a tremendous understanding of business."

Yet spend a few hours with Simmons, and it becomes obvious that he is no longer all about the benjamins. His favorite line, says Craig Marshall, Rush's COO, is "What else?" and that now seems to mean using his power to achieve social and political goals ranging from overturning certain restrictive New York State drug laws to encouraging voter registration. "I want to contribute more to earth than I take away from it," Simmons says.

Simmons's success comes as much from what he is not as from what he is. He is not a man who made it big and then abandoned his roots but rather one who is still as comfortable on the streets of the inner city as he has become on Wall Street. He vacations on St. Bart's with the gatekeepers of the establishment, virtually all of whom call him a friend, while holding political opinions and promoting cultural messages that many of those same people might find incendiary. He is radical and approachable at the same time. He is, in a word, authentic.

Today, the Russell Simmons empire, dubbed Rush after Simmons's most apropos nickname, spans clothing (Phat Fashions, featuring the Phat Farm, Baby Phat, and Phat Farm Kids lines, expects to bring in an estimated $615 million in retail sales this year) and music (he is chairman of Island/Def Jam records, although he sold his stake in the company in 1999). There's a new financial-services arm, an entertainment unit that includes the acclaimed Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam series of live shows and television programs, a monthly magazine, and an energy soda, DefCon3. Rush also houses the nonprofit Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a nationwide series of youth conferences aimed at increasing voter registration and political awareness, and the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.