Russell Simmons Speaks on Biggest Disappoint as Head of Def Jam Records

Russell Simmons is co-founder of the legendary Def Jam Records, and was the C.E.O of the company for many years. In a recent interview on Hot 97 radio, he was asked what his biggest disappoint is from his Def Jam days, and he said, it was watching artists not reaching their full potentials. He named DMX as one of the artists on Def Jam he felt didn't reach his full potential. X had a very successful career in the late 90s and early 2000s on Def Jam, but started to fall off the scene shortly after he released his 4th album (The Great Depression) in 2001.






Read Russell Simmons words on DMX below.

“Things that disappoint me are people that didn’t get to achieve all their greatness in some cases. Like I’ve experienced watching brilliant artists not become all they could have been. DMX is the number one I can think of. Cause he was brilliant…He was just amazing. And he said amazing stuff. And he was a great vocalist. And a great artist and a great everything. And, you know, people make choices that make it more difficult for them to continue to be great. And some make choices that make them make it easier to continue to be great. And I’ve seen many people and their entourages destroyed them. And I’ve seen people who have had to shed some of their entourage in order to keep going. My entourage that [I] kinda needed to shed died [or] went to jail.” (Hot 97)