Russell Simmons is the founder or cofounder of numerous successful companies and philanthropic organizations, including Def Jam Records, Phat Farm clothing, the dRush advertising agency, and Rush Philanthropic.
Chris Morrow is the author of Stir It Up: Reggae Album Cover Art and has written about hip-hop and politics for numerous publications, including The Source and the New York Daily News. A resident of Brooklyn, New York, he has been working as a speechwriter for Russell Simmons since 2003.
The Tony, Peabody, and Emmy Award winning, six-time HBO Def Poet Black Ice is credited with being a major pioneer in the art of spoken word poetry. Russell Simmons once said of him, “When I saw Black Ice, I knew the world was ready for poetry.” Enamored with his enormous talent, musicians Nas, Fabolous, and Kendrick Lamar have had Black Ice appear on their chart-topping platinum selling albums. Black Ice has lended his voice to national advertising spots and he is also the exclusive voice-over artist for the audio versions of the Russell Simmons books Do You: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success and Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All.