10 Questions for Russell Simmons

By Sean Gregory

After the Imus scandal, the rap mogul made a surprising plea to remove three offensive words from hip-hop's airwaves. He has also penned a new book about self-empowerment. Russell Simmons will now take your questions.

You have recently recommended that the words nigger, bitch and ho should be banned from the radio versions of songs, labeling them "extreme curse words." Why are you focusing on only these three words? --John Kensall, Toronto Because every time you speak to a black activist, he will tell you that these three words offend him the most. [Eliminating] these three words will alleviate a lot of the pain.

How has ostentatious consumption and misogyny become the norm for the hip-hop movement? --Carl Gauss, Venice, Calif. It is the norm for American culture. Hip-hop expresses things people won't say. You do it, listen to it and accept it. It's just when rappers express it, people are shocked.

I know many hip-hop artists are talented, but why can't they make songs that don't put black people down in front of the world? --Sherman Gay, Los Angeles They don't think they are putting themselves down. Hip-hop is so honest. We have to adhere to the truth, even if it makes us uncomfortable. The artists have to express what's in their heart. They don't always feel like being happy and dancing.

Do you think Don Imus should have been fired? --Hoziah Outland, Lebanon, Pa. The dialogue is more important than Imus. The fact that we are discussing race is inspiring. I didn't care what happened to him. What he said was hurtful: the difference between those words coming out of a rapper's mouth and his mouth is that when a rapper says them, they are not racial. If I walk up to a black man on the street and say "nigger" with a blank expression, nine times out of 10 he would hug me. That is a fact.

Immediately after the Imus flap, you spoke out against hip-hop censorship. Now, you want rappers and media outlets to stop using these terms over the airways. Doesn't this make you a hypocrite? --Keyon Jeff, Houma, La. No. I think it is some self-analysis. The outrage [over the Imus situation] made me think about it. I am allowed to have a different opinion.

Should lewd material in music videos also be eliminated? --Derick Larbi, Bridgeport, Conn. I don't see how this generation is any more lewd. Their skirts are no shorter than the previous generation's. Women have been objectified throughout history. We have to work on that. Don't say that rappers invented it. People love pointing fingers at the rappers.

Even if you eliminate these three words from hip-hop culture, what about other rap themes that are dangerous to society, like "no snitching" anthems? --Brendan Ripp, New York City S---, when I was a kid I didn't snitch either. I don't know if you watch them gangster movies where the Italian guys come out of the church and they don't talk-- the sad truth is that we can talk about "no snitching" as if it were a rap code, but it is a street code. We need to create a dialogue between the police and community. That's the issue. We talk about gangsta rappers, but why do we never talk about our gangsta government?

Wouldn't it be much more advisable to refocus your ideas on how best we can empower black people educationally, economically and otherwise? --Agboola Kehinde, London My office has a whole floor called Rush Community Affairs. We have the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation and other organizations. Plus, name me a rapper, and I will tell you the name of his charity. Even the worst rappers that you think you hate. You tell me 50 Cent, and I will tell you about G-Unity [his foundation for kids].

Won't my generation come up with new terms and new ways to promote the same offensive expressions? --C. Videgain, Brooklyn, N.Y. I hope so. I hope there will always be an outlet for pain in these communities. It's something we have to address.

From your new book, Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You, can you tell me one law to achieve happiness and success? --Abdisalan Mire, Hamilton, New Zealand Get your mind right. That speaks to meditation and prayer. All of our movements are prayers. Every statement we make and every thought we have is a prayer. And what are we praying for? We are praying to lift people up. Because if you start to move to a cycle of giving, then you will be O.K.

What do you hope to accomplish by eliminating the n-word? --Robert C. Smith in Garden City, NY I think people misunderstand the stance. It is crucial that rappers have the chance to express the truth that is in their heart. But I don't think that rappers are part of this debate. This debate is about corporations and other corporations. This debate is about the sponsors and the people who are concerned and the people who have a business to protect. But the artists' rights have to be protected. Sometimes America can go so far that people's rights are taken away. The bogeyman will come and destroy a business or hurt a person that is giving an honest expression through his art. That has happened a lot in this country.

Is there a hip-hop musician you feel the world should listen to more? --Cara Lahr in Rockville, MD So many are relevant in different ways. I love when the Black Eyed Peas ask, "Where is the love?" but I also love when NWA said "F--- the Police" The discussion between police and community started at that point. If you life in extreme poverty sometimes you see the police as the occupying force. That they are there in some way to keep you in poverty and keep the system in place. And whether it is right or wrong, it is the perception. The fact is that without the poets, the condition it is easier to ignore. These people are voiceless without their poets. They have no voice except for rapper who either describes his condition or is talking about how to fix the condition.

Last April I attended the Save Darfur rally in D.C. and was excited to hear you speak. However, I was troubled by your statement that we shouldn't support a regime change in Sudan. How do envision ending the violence in Sudan without president President Omar al-Bashir losing power? --Carly Pildis in Boston I don't have a road map, but one of the things I think is very important is prayer, awareness and being a part of foundations that promote it. They talk about regime change, but they also talk about oil and s---. They say it is regime change, but it is so complicated. Most of the time we aren't talking about supporting anybody unless there is something under the ground. And that is the sad truth about American ambition and many kinds of foreign policy. I don't have the answer. But don't we wish all the politicians were not connected in so many ways.

When will African American entertainers and athletes pull their resources together to create a bank where aspiring African American people can submit a business plan to secure a loan? --Terry Jackson in Durham, N.C. You know I love all kinds of activism. I certainly think blacks deserve to have something whether it is affirmative action or an opportunity that should be opened up to them. But at the same time I believe that people of color are not the only poor people in America and all over the world. America has had a hand in putting [black people] in a certain space. So the idea of affirmation active or some of the other ideas to give to African Americans is good. And I think they deserve it.

If you can give only one thing to help a young man who is poor, sad, and angry, would you give him your book, some money or the Bible? --Ju Huang in Stamford, CT I would give him my book, because there is nothing in that book that isn't already in the Bible, but maybe I say it in a different way. At the Hip-Hop Summit in Detroit, I saw Eminem one time speaking to the audience. He told them that with "hard work, dedication, self study and faith and you can realize any dream." I saw kids in the audience crying, he said it so eloquently. A preacher couldn't tell them. A prophet couldn't tell them. Their mother couldn't tell them. It wouldn't mean s---. But Eminem said it and it rang a bell. I am hopeful that the way this book is written some young and older people will digest it.

Why should we erase the word "nigger" even though it won't make a difference in the whole scene of racism? --Jose Costa in Luanda, Angola One, we want people to understand the messages that rappers are giving on radio. Two, because my children and my parents are likely to be offended by it and this is mainstream radio.

Real hip-hop is the underground artists that respect the culture and strive to produce meaningful lyrics that will move not only your body, but also your mind and soul. How do we get more of these positive artists on the radio and TV? --Nick Wallace in Salt Lake All hip-hop artists that are successful are poets. I would like them all of them to be uplifting. I would like the world to be that way. But they all have a right to exist as they are. I don't see why Snoop Dogg can't be the next Hugh Hefner.

There are movies made everyday glorifying death, murder, and sex. Why does hip-hop have to be the first one to take the fall? --D. Lee in North Carolina It doesn't have to, but it does. People will always blame the poets for society's ills. But these are the true artists. In the movies, the violence is so gratuitous. The sad truth is that people can't take it when it's reality. The difference between blues, jazz, rock n' roll and rap is that rap stayed poor. Even the white rappers are poor. It's scarier to look at poor people -- it makes everyone uncomfortable. Their pain is something that people would like to see swept under the rug. The last chapter of my book is about rappers having the guts to speak truth to power. It is very important that they do.