Commuting to Detroit once a week for work may be difficult for some students. Rezell Simmons flys to New York to produce tracks for the upcoming D12 album.
Growing up on the rough streets of Detroit’s Eight Mile district, he loved listening to rap and performing. He decided to pursue the business side of the industry. Simmons, a Senior Communications/Prelaw major, is following the footsteps of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. He is on his way to building his own multi-million dollar empire.
Along with his partners “Pep” and “Dewitt,” Simmons runs Sicknotes Productions. Sicknotes is an in-house production company specializing in creating beats and putting together mixtapes. It gives him exposure as a producer in the industry and gets his name out to other artists and labels.
Simmons produced the hit Eminem single “How Come.”
Rap connoisseur, Nolan Hensel, Senior Middle Childhood Education, likes the new Eminem single.
“It makes me impatient for the next Eminem solo record, I like D12 and all but Eminem alone is better than Eminem in D12,” Hensel said.
He is currently producing tracks for D12, Bizarre and Obie Trice. He is extremely focused and driven. He has his hands in a lot of pots. Known as Nyce, he hosts his own radio show for Hot 97, a popular radio show in New York.
Simmons works with the editorial staff at an up and coming Industry magazine, The Next Level, generating story ideas and being the voice in the streets. Simmons also manages hip-hop artist Solomon from MTV’s Making the Band’s season one.
Q: How do mixtapes work?
A: “I get exclusives, I get songs from labels, from artists themselves I compile it and put it on my mixtape, they know I’m a hot d.j. I’m at Hot 97, they know my mixtape will be hot on the streets. I’m dumping three mixtapes a month, it keeps the streets buzzing, people love fresh music, out here in the midwest there is music out on the East Coast that people haven’t heard, I’m just giving them the music.”
Q: What is your connection with Eminem and D12?
A: “It’s a blessing, (Sicknotes) has been around D12 and Shady Records for sometime, Eminem’s dropped three albums, this is D12’s second, we’ve been doing stuff for D12 but they gave us the single to put us out there.”
Q: Why are you going to BG?
A: “I’ve been through alot, one is my family is one they said to finish it out and the other is a hope that it benefits me in the end, so if it comes down and it’s me and somebody else who is just as talented or has the qualifications, then I’ve got the education.”
Q: What do you get out of producing music?
A: “I want my purpose to be somebody great and to touch people if that’s what it is if that’s what I want to do. There is alot of things in the industry that’s shaky you never know when you come or go, when you’re hot or not all you can do is keep on that path and hope that it comes out right.”
Q: What are you doing after you graduate?
A: “I hear other people rapping on our beat and it’s amazing but you know that’s how it goes, we’re working on Obie Trice’s new album, we’re working on a new D12 album, we’re doing that stuff right now, we’re working on Bizarre out of D12, he’s gonna drop his solo project we’re gonna keep going.”
Q: Tell me about Next Level Magazine?
A: “I bring people editorial wise to the table, this is what’s going on in the street. The next issue is dropping three months from now Young Buck from G-Unit is on the cover. It’s in 35 states this is the fiftth issue so it’s gonna be huge.”
