Russell Simmons and 20th Century Fox are working on a film about the life of T La Rock the first artist signed to Def Jam Recordings. In 1984, Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam, released T La Rock’s “It’s Yours.” The song was a watershed moment for hip-hop because of T La Rock’s multi-syllabic style and the influence the record had on rap music that was in its early commercial stages. The same year the song was released T La Rock suffered a serious brain injury after breaking up a fight. He had to recover from a coma to remember everything about his life and he returned to the stage years later.
The movie is based on a recent article about T La Rock written by Joshuah Bearman for GQ. Simmons is producing the film with Jake Stein for DEF Pictures along with Mike Medavoy and Benjamin Anderson. T La Rock actually worked on a film project about his life previously with screenwriter Antwone Fisher. Bearman and Josh Davis are co-founders of Epic magazine and will co-produce the film.
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