(AllHipHop News) The normally peaceful, Yoga loving Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons was so passionate about changing the Rockefeller Drug Laws, that he almost got into a fistfight with a New York State Senator.
The New York Post snagged some excerpts from Joe Bruno’s upcoming book, “Keep Swinging: A Memoir on Politics and Justice,” which details his time as a powerful Senator in New York from 1994-2008.
The politician offers up a variety of stories on movers-and-shakers in the New York political scene, including Michael Bloomberg, Eliot Spitzer and Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons.
Russell was active in leading major protests at City Hall to denounce and call for changes in the law from 2003-2009, when lawmakers agreed to repeal the law after a 36-year fight.
According to Joe Bruno, Russell got so heated in a discussion about the laws that the two men almost came to blows.
“Just do it [repeal the law]” Bruno said Simmons supposedly snapped.
“My patience was almost gone and hearing a tag line from a sneaker commercial didn’t replenish it,” Bruno said.
“Simmons jumped up and suggested that we step outside to finish our conversation,” implying he wanted to have a fistfight with the Senator.
But, New York Governor George Pataki warned Russell about Bruno’s as an ex-army boxer and things soon cooled down.
“Keep Swinging: A Memoir on Politics and Justice” is due in stores November 29.