On The Record tells the story of Drew Dixon, a former music executive at Def Jam Recordings, who claims she was allegedly assaulted and raped by CEO and music mogul Russell Simmons. Produced by doc veterans Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the documentary is now available for free on YouTube.
Drew Dixon started in the industry by answering phones for record labels. She was eventually offered a job at Def Jam by Simmons. On her first day, she claims that veteran record executive Lyor Cohen called her into his office and warned her that if she saw him in the building she should hide because he didn’t want to see any of “Russell’s skinny, tall b–ches.”
Despite the misogynistic nature of the label, Drew was able to maneuver her career by wielding the soundtrack for the hip hop documentary The Show and overseeing projects with Bone, Thugs & Harmony, and Method Man and Mary J. Blige. She rose through the ranks after the success of the song “All I Need,” a classic hip hop duet from Method Man and Mary.
Dixon claimed that the first time Simmons attempted to harass her was at a cafe where he tried to force a kiss on her in a closet. She said the harassment continued for a while, even happening in her office.
“He wasn’t like, violent,” she said. “He always sheepishly apologized later, so I thought he feels bad. He would sort of back off for a while and do it again. I guess I thought it was part of the culture and I just needed to manage around it.”
She goes on to say that she thought she had earned a spot at the label where she would be valued, at least enough for Simmons not to burn a bridge with her.
Half an hour into the documentary, Dixon tells the story of allegedly being sexually assaulted by the music mogul. Although she did not say it directly, she implied that she was raped. Dixon claims that Simmons had invited her to his apartment to listen to a demo. While she was setting up the music in his bedroom, Dixon alleges that Simmons showed up moments later naked with a condom on. Dixon recalls Simmons being cold and allegedly forcing himself on her before she blacked out.
She continued to work in the office until Simmons started making inappropriate demands of her, such as asking her to sit in his lap, as she alleges. Once Dixon realized that she was being reduced to a sex object for what she calls Simmons’ “pleasure,” she submitted a letter of resignation.
She would never say anything about the continuous abuse because she didn’t want to be the one to bring a black man down or dismantle the illusion of hip hop culture.
“What, are we gonna pile on?” She says of her decision to not come forward when the incidents occurred. “We’re gonna add fuel to the fire of the myth of the sexually aggressive black man? I don’t want to do that. I wanted Russell to be a hero, too. I mean, for 22 years, I took it for the team. Russell Simmons is the king of hip hop and I was proud of him for that. So, I took it for the team. I didn’t want to let the culture down. I love the culture. I love Russell, too.”
Watch On The Record on YouTube
Indeed, Simmons is highly respected in the hip hop industry. He’s been a go-to leader for success and because of it, coined the admirable label “godfather of hip hop.” So, it’s not shocking that hip hop is not behind the movement to destroy, yet, another black man who has created such a great legacy. It hurts.
Hip hop fans don’t know who to believe. A new culture cultivated by the #MeToo movement is attempting to coerce people to automatically accept a woman’s allegation of sexual assault without any question or analytical thinking. Quite frankly, it seems a bit ludicrous. For all we know, these could be money hungry, fame hunting accusers looking to take someone down. Or, better yet, the accusers could be bitter from a number of things.
But then again, hip hop doesn’t make a good case for men. For years, despite all the information available, rappers and partakers of the culture have insisted on perpetuating the misogynistic stereotypes all for a bite of the devil’s pie. It didn’t matter if they had mothers, sisters, daughters, and even beloved grandmothers that stereotypically raised these rappers, it wasn’t enough to convince men of the hip hop matrix that the mistreatment of women was and still is plain wrong.
Still, Russell Simmons? It’s possible. But, until there is evidence, how can we as hip hop fans just blindly persecute a person and cancel his legacy?
Simmons addressed Dixon’s allegations in a statement he released in August 2018.
“I vehemently deny any allegations of forced sex or sexual violence of any kind made against me. The truth of these statements in my defense have been validated by my taking and passing multiple lie detector tests in which I denied having forced sex or being abusive in my relationships. With respect to Drew Dixon asserting that I apologized to her years later, I took and passed a lie detector test affirming that I have never apologized to anyone for assaulting them…The first time Drew Dixon accused me of unwanted sex was last year, more than two decades after she made her sexual harassment claim. This assertion never came up during settlement negotiations in 1996 or any time before last year. Once again, my denial of these horrific allegations have been validated by lie detector tests.”
Simmons is now living in Bali, Indonesia.
