As a promoter, Simmons started organizing concerts and managing the inner-city artists, but the music industry paid no heed. Its executives considered the 1979 smash, “Rapper’s Delight,” a one-time novelty. Not until 1983, when Simmons helped form the group Run-DMC, would rapping — now part of a broader cultural phenomenon called hip-hop — reach the mainstream. 
Rapper Chuck D would describe hip-hop as black America’s C.N.N., a network for news about life in America that was not being reported elsewhere. The members of Run-DMC wanted to “keep it real.” Unlike other black performers, who had adopted white manners and fashions to find success, they remained true to themselves in their styles, their diction, and their choice of rhymes. At Simmons’ urging, they wrote a paean to their sneakers — “My Adidas.” It brought the German company’s executives running, checkbooks open. (Source: pbs.org — http://to.pbs.org/1W0e0YN)
