Rush Communications is the company owned and founded by the hip-hop pioneer

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

. It is one of the largest

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

owned media firms in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Rush continues to draw on its roots in hip hop, targeting young consumers through urban and hip-hop culture.

History

In 1983, Simmons formed

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

along with Rush Artist Management, the core of Rush, which launched the careers of artists such as the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

Run-DMC Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

and

Whodini Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark; Ju ...

. Later adding the

Lyor Cohen Lyor Cohen born October 3, 1959) is an American record executive and entrepreneur. Cohen has been actively involved in hip hop at various record labels for more than 30 years. He started by managing rappers for Rush Productions, then led Def Ja ...

helmed

Rush Associated Labels Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

(RAL) and extending feelers into fields such as movie production and magazine publishing, Simmons built Rush Communications into a broad-based media empire. Rush sold Def Jam to

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

to focus on various product lines (Rush Mobile, UniRush Financial Services, and Simmons Lathan Media Group, producer of Def Poetry and Def Comedy Jam). In addition, the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation brings arts education to inner-city children. Simmons is on the U.S. board of directors for Upliftment Jamaica an organization started by the vice president of Rush Communications, Gary Foster, which seeks to empower impoverished communities throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean. In 2013, the company worked with businessman extraordinaire, Hajj Hasaun Muhammad, and his entrepreneurial partner, Luanna Williams, to launch Quality Access, a business model to serve populations who have limited access to fresh produce and other quality foodstuffs.

UniRush

RushCard was founded in 2003, with co-founders such as

. RushCard's cards run on the

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cred ...

network and are issued by

MetaBank MetaBank, N.A. is a United States bank with retail branches in Iowa and South Dakota. It offers traditional banking services designed to serve the needs of individual, agricultural, and business depositors and borrowers. MetaBank issued debit ca ...

. In 2016, it began offering a credit card. On January 30, 2017, it was reported that

UniRush LLC Rush Communications is the company owned and founded by the hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons. It is one of the largest African American owned media firms in the United States. Rush continues to draw on its roots in hip hop, targeting young consum ...

would be sold to Green Dot Corp. in a deal valued around $147 million. The deal, to close at the end of the quarter, was said to add around 750,000 cardholders to Green Dot's network.

References

{{reflist Television production companies of the United States