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. He has p ...

. It is one of the largest

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

owned media firms in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Rush continues to draw on its roots in

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, 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 l ...

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

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

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 and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Run-DMC Run-DMC (also formatted Run-D.M.C., RUN DMC, or some combination thereof) was an American hip-hop group formed in Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the mos ...

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; Jun ...

. Later adding the

Lyor Cohen Lyor Cohen (born October 3, 1959) is an American music industry executive. He is YouTube's global head of music. He began his career in the 1980s at Rush Management and Def Jam, and later held senior positions at Island Def Jam and Warner M ...

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 music, hip hop, contemporary R&B, Soul m ...

(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 Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

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. () is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit c ...

network and are issued by

MetaBank Pathward Financial, Inc. (formerly known as MetaBank) is a U.S.-based banking and financial services company. It adopted its current name in 2022 after its parent, Meta Financial Group, sold the "Meta" trademark to Meta Platforms. The bank oper ...

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