By Tim Saunders on
Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons has revealed that he would rather give his fortune to people in need than spend it on himself.
The 51-year-old made the announcement at the annual BET awards held in Atlanta on Saturday.
“I’m not going to cut down on [my charities] so I can have another ride on a private plane,” said the producer, who took home the I Am Hip Hop icon award at the ceremony. “I want to make sure everyone keeps getting fed.”
Simmons is Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network – which harnesses the cultural relevance of Hip-Hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy – and also co-founded the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation with his brothers, Danny and Joseph Simmons. In 2007 he founded the Diamond Empowerment Fund to raise money to support education initiatives to help people in countries where diamonds are a natural resource.
“I want to contribute more to earth than I take away from it,” Simmons said.
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
