NEW YORK (FinalCall.com)�In his new tell-all book, rap mogul Russell Simmons has a simple message: You don�t have to spend years doing sex and drugs to get what you want out of life.

That message from the 44-year-old chairman/CEO of Rush Communications, founder and/or co-founder of several businesses�including Def Jam Records, Def Comedy Jam, Def Poetry Jam, Phat Farm clothing, and dRush advertising�is far different from the material "bling-bling" excesses often depicted in rap videos and music.

The Simmons� autobiography, "Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money +God," traces the first 40 years of his business and personal life. Over the past four or five years, Russell, with marriage to former model Kimora Lee and birth of daughter Ming Lee, has emerged as a father, husband, and political and social activist. Those roles complement his work as a philanthropist, entrepreneur and star maker.

Russell Simmons grew up in the middle-class neighborhood of Hollis, Queens. His parents, Daniel and Evelyn Simmons met at Howard University, where dad earned a B.A. in history and mom degrees in sociology and psychology. They both held city jobs and managed to raise three sons, Danny, Russell and Joey.

Young Russell took to the streets and all that came with them. As a teen, he had a flair for clothes, and fashion in general. "To support my taste for clothes, I sold herb on 205th Street, just a few blocks from where my family lived," he reveals in the very first paragraph of the introduction to his autobiography.

In 1974, New York City was headed towards one of the worst fiscal crises to ever hit a large American city. To keep from going bankrupt, more than 19,000 city workers were laid off, including 15,000 schoolteachers.

This meant no more after-school programs, no more music classes and no more youth-oriented support programs. At the same time, New York launched an all-out war to curb a growing gang problem. As young people were deprived of many creative outlets and scapegoated as the cause of many problems, a new cultural force was emerging: Hip hop with its own music, dress, art, dance and language was rising. Hundreds of hip hop groups called "crews" were formed, consisting of two or three DJs, three or four emcees, or rappers, and human beat boxes performing in parks.

In 1975, Russell, 19, was attending City College. There he met Rudy Toppin, who gave him the nickname Rush, and urged him to promote shows with rap groups. Russell started booking acts in hotels, Harlem nightspots, parks, college campuses, and recording them. He also started to cross-pollinate hip hop artists from Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn by bringing the acts to different neighborhoods.

It wasn�t easy. By 1977, Russell was broke. His father wouldn�t give him a dime and was unhappy with having his son drop out of college. His mother came to the rescue of his promotion business with $2,000 in $100 bills.

"It was that money that kept me afloat until Kurtis Blow�s first record broke, and I entered the record business full force," he recalled in an Nov. 20 exclusive interview. It was Christmas Eve 1977 and the Kurtis Blow single "Christmas Rappin" played on WBLS radio in New York City. Russell ran up the stairs to tell his parents and "then I just stared at the speakers," he said.

By 1984, he had teamed up with Rick Rubin to form Def Jam Records and snagged a distribution deal with CBS Records. The list at Def Jam quickly grew: Run-DMC, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Slick Rick, Redman, Method Man, and others.

Def Jam prided itself as being the trendsetter in hip hop. Run-DMC was one of the first hip hop groups to have a video played on MTV, and start to take rap across racial lines. It did not hurt that emcee Run was Joey Simmons, Russell�s younger brother.

Once on the other side, Def Jam produced Chuck D and Public Enemy, which brought a militant political message. "No other label would have given us the latitude, we brought so many ideas to the Def Jam table. They brought the marketing and promotional concepts that made for a perfect marriage," Chuck D told The Final Call.

The work at Def Jam made enough money for Russell to pay attention to other interests and potential moneymakers in fashion and comedy. Thus was born Phat Farm Clothing, which made about $100 million last year, and HBO-Def Comedy Jam, where comedians like Martin Lawrence and Steve Harvey broke onto the national scene.

"I felt that I was lucky to be around smarter people. I am kind of a collaborator, that is my formula for success. I was lucky enough to align myself with the right people," Russell told The Final Call.

But the September 1996 death of Tupac Shakur and the early 1997 death of The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls), hit Russell hard. He was hurt by the loss of life, concerned that rap magazines had promoted a so-called East Coast-West Coast beef detrimental to hip hop, and regretted not doing more to squelch the Suge Knight-Sean "Puffy" Combs feud. Russell said he was 38 at the time, knew both men, and had the most experience in the hip hop industry.

"I think Russell feels responsible for the state that rap and hip hop are in, and took it upon himself to do something about it," said Chuck D.

What the hip hop impresario has done is work with others in the industry, Black leaders and other organizations to protect hip hop from censorship, promote peace among artists and advocate for political and social change.

He asked the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to host a Chicago hip hop peace summit in 1997. He also supported the Million Family March in 2000, Rock the Vote/Rap the Vote youth voter registration campaigns, spoke out against the controversial shooting of unarmed Amadou Diallo in New York by police officers, challenged lawmakers in Congress, raised money for political candidates and founded a charity. In July, he co-hosted a major Hip Hop Summit in New York, out of which grew the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, with a strong emphasis on politics, lobbying and political education.

The last four years have been about service, he said. "I want to thank people such as Min. Louis Farrakhan, who has served as my spiritual father, and my friend Bobby Shriver who introduced me to yoga," Russell said.

His book is a joint effort with journalist and acclaimed writer Nelson George and the Crown Publishing Group in Manhattan. He has started to promote the book by visiting local high schools and talking with students. "Hip hop is the dominant popular culture on the planet today and to have a document from its first major Black mogul about the early days, about his rise and the rise of others, is incredibly important," said Kevin Powell, lecturer and hip hop activist.

It is also important that public figures own up to their shortcomings privately and publicly, Powell said. "I am not surprised about Russell Simmons� revelations regarding the role sex and drugs played in his life. Sadly, crass consumption in various forms is the American way, and like all of us, Russell was socialized by this country�s belief system," he added.

Russell told The Final Call that his autobiography also delivers a second message: "I have learned that God comes first, not as you see Him placed in the book�s title."