NEWS
Russell Simmons has come to the defense of Diddy (real name Sean Combs) despite the sexual assault allegations both men are currently facing.
The embattled Def Jam co-founder took to Instagram on Monday (May 6) to share his thoughts on Diddy, imploring people to “see the good in things.”
He began: “When you tear someone down or you watch someone tear someone down, try not to get so excited. I know it’s fun to watch for some people. If I had a nickel for every nasty meme sent to me by people whose lives were enhanced and built by Sean Combs, it’s like, it seems a bit hypocritical since the only reason you have a life is ’cause you worked for him, or he gave you a job or lifted you up somehow.”
He then urged his followers to uplift Diddy: “Watching our brothers fall is hurtful. Having everybody get together and laugh at our brother’s fall or supporting the tearing down of our brothers is tough.
“You may think it’s, you know, entertaining. Some of the memes are funny, right? But, we gotta look up, train our minds to see the good in things and not the negative.”
Check out the clip below:
Simmons may also subtly be asking for grace regarding his own legal troubles.
Earlier this month, he was accused of falsifying a settlement document with the plaintiff in the sexual assault case that was filed against him earlier this year.
According to an amended complaint filed on Tuesday (April 30) and obtained by HipHopDX, he reportedly admitted to plaintiff that he was “sorry for what he’d done,” and that he wanted to settle the case without attorney involvement.
But the Jane Doe in this case has also accused the embattled mogul of falsifying a settlement document and submitting it to the court.
“The document is an Adobe pdf file titled “Agreement – Jane Doe v. Russell Simmons,” although the words “[Doe] – Executed Document.pdf” also appear in the body of the file at the top of each page. The metadata for the file states “Created: March 24, 2024.” The document is dated “January 9, 1997” at the top of each page, but states “[Jane Doe] 1-6-97” at the bottom of each page,” read the complaint.
“In addition to the discrepancy with the date and file name, a completely different employee’s name is listed at the top of page 3. The initials on each page are not Ms. Doe’s handwriting. The document is on Rush Associated Label letterhead as opposed to Def Jam’s letterhead. There is no date accompanying the signature of Russell Simmons or Lyor Cohen (President of Def Jam in 1997).”
Diddy, for his part, has remained defiant even after being sued by multiple people for alleged sexual assault and misconduct.
Earlier this month, the mogul shared a video montage that featured him in warm embraces with his loved ones before cutting to a shot of him standing on the beach and welcoming a storm with open arms.
The captionless clip featured audio from a 2022 sermon by Bishop T.D. Jakes during which he said: “Not hysterical, not frantic, not anxious, not fretful, but steady in the storm — looks bad, looks tough, but remain steady in the storm.”
NEWS
Steve Albini‘s bands Shellac and Big Black now have their catalogues available for listening on Spotify.
Albini passed away aged 61 earlier this month due to a heart attack. He was well known for being the producer of major albums such as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid of Me’, Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and more.
Back in 2022, the late producer took his music off the streaming platform. He had previously criticised the company for platforming anti-vaxxers such as Joe Rogan, and tweeted later that they were a “terrible company”, adding: “I don’t want to be part of their business”.
He later told Attack Magazine that Spotify was “one of the few places outside of record stores where recorded music can earn anything at all, and for bands [with] more generous, honest relationships with independent labels not part of the ownership trust, then the payments from Spotify, though meager per-play, can add up to a viable income stream. Nobody’s getting rich, but it could pay for the groceries.”
Now, it appears that Albini’s work with his bands Shellac and Big Black are now available to stream on Spotify. This include’s Shellac’s final album ‘To All Trains’, which was announced shortly before Albini’s death and was released last Friday (May 17).
Tributes have poured in for the legendary producer since the announcement of his death. Our NME obituary hailed him as “a lone voice of anti-industry punk scene ethics, even as he worked with major labels on some of the biggest names in alternative rock.”
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina last week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’., and Joanna Newsom dedicated a version of her song ‘Cosmia’ to him, who engineered her 2006 album ‘Ys’. See further tributes here.
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo spoke to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini, who engineered the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
