ABSTRACT
Carmen Ashhurst-Watson has been involved in media, film and television organizationbuilding and production for twenty years. She began working with hip hop impressario Russell Simmons in the mid-1980s, and as of 1990 became president of Def Jam Recordings. Since 1991, Ashhurst-Watson has been president of Rush Communications, the parent company of Simmons’ media empire and the second largest black-owned entertainment company in the United States, which has-in addition to music-three major subdivisions for film, television and fashion. In my animated conversation with Ashhurst-Watson, she dropped science on rap artists’ contracts, black radio, capitalism, sexism in the music business and more. Here it is…hardcore.
