Words by Comfort Nnana Kalu
Russell Simmons will be producing a film on artist T LA Rock. Hailing from the Bronx, T LA Rock was the first rapper signed to Def Jam. In time, he came up to be a highly influential Hip-Hop artist with notable track “It’s Yours.” The single introduced a new wave of Hip-Hop and placed T LA Rock at the forefront as a tastemaker. “It’s Yours” went on to inspire other artists as it was sampled in iconic songs like Nas’ “The World is Yours” and Public Enemy’s “Louder than a Bomb. The movie is inspired by GQ article “The Man Who Forgot He Was a Rap Legend” by Joshuah Berman.
The piece details T LA Rock’s recovery from a traumatic brain injury that he received in 1994 after he attempted to break up a fight near his home in the Bronx. The aftermath of the altercation brought on more trouble then he bargained for as he suffered memory loss due to the beating and transient global amnesia. Today, T LA Rock finds himself in Haym Salomon Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Brooklyn where he fights to regain his memory and re-memorize all of his raps. The film surrounding his life will capture his time spent at this facility. 20th Century Fox picked up the right to the film and Russell Simmons, as the co-founder of Def Jam Records, will produce the film alongside Jake Stein who is under their DEF Pictures banner and Mike Medavoy who is under Phoenix Pictures.
In a statement released by the Hollywood Reporter, Simmons wrote: “T LA Rock has always been an inspiration to me and many in the Hip-Hop community, This is a man who was beat literally to within an inch of his life at the height of his fame. How he regained his memory and recovered from his coma while being cared for and surrounded by the most unlikely group of therapists and friends is the kind of hope filled and hopeful true story that will appeal to everyone, whether you love rap music or not.”
