While the music industry has expressed a general dislike for hip-hop drama “Platinum” the show has found a huge, credible supporter – Russell Simmons. The mogul, who was known as “Rush” in his earlier days, says the show is closer to reality than even the industry will admit. The show garnered record-breaking viewership its first week.
“Its as real as ‘The Sopranos’ is real,” Simmons told AllHipHop.com. “Of course its exaggerated-people don’t get shot every week [in a real record label], but they will on the show.”
“I don’t see what the f*ck is the problem,”
“Platinum” is a dramatic family saga based on two brothers, Jackson and Grady Ellis (played by Jason George and Sticky Fingaz), who run a record company- Platinum Records. The brothers are independent CEO’s who struggled from the streets of New York. When industry problems occur, they both have different ways of handling things.
Simmons also said the character representation is far more accurate than the critics charge.
“Sticky is real and the other guy is not a cornball. He’s just like a Harlem ni**a – nothing wrong with him,” the co-founder of Def Jam Records said of the storyline.
Ironically, Simmons revealed he missed a possibly lucrative opportunity with “Platinum.”
“I had the script a long time ago. I thought the script was over the top, but they calmed it down. I had the script when it was called “Empire” years ago. I passed on it. I didn’t want to do that work.”
In actuality, Simmons stated that hip-hop is generally less accurate than the television show, which is ironic.
“Ni**as are not representing the truth all the time. They are telling the truth or someone else’s truth but not necessarily their truth. They say they are the negative sh*t that they come from but they didn’t come from that. A lot of untruths are being told in hip-hop,” Simmons charged.
The mogul, who just finished his Detroit hip-hop summit, stated that he wasn’t concerned with a potential boycott of the show announced by Najee Ali’s Project Islam H.O.P.E.
“I don’t need that one ni**a to debate with…We don’t need them. That just makes it seems as if there is some following or agreement with him,” he said. “There are very few supporters.”