Hip Hop Summit Action Network

The Hip Hop Summit Action Network was founded in 2001. Sean “Diddy” Combs, a controversial hip-hop artist who was convicted in July 2025 of transportation for prostitution, was listed as a board member on the group’s website. ^{6 7 1 8}

History and Activities

The Hip Hop Summit Action Network was founded in June 2001 by music mogul Russell Simmons and Ben Chavis. ¹

The organization was founded to promote educational advocacy and advance other social concerns through a coalition of hip-hop artists, civil rights leaders, youth leaders, and other people in the entertainment and education industry. The organization also called for race-based reparations, government-run health care, voting rights for felons, and the end of tough-on-crime policies including mandatory minimum sentencing and three-strikes laws. ^{9 3}

After its founding, the Hip Hop Summit Action Network claimed to have hosted over 40 Hip Hop Summits in major cities across the country. These Hip Hop Summits registered voters, promoted youth mobilization in elections, and promoted youth leadership development. The Hip Hop Summit Action Network partnered with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Rap the Vote on voter registration efforts. ¹⁰

In 2011, the Hip Hop Summit Action Network aligned itself with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. In December of that year, Benjamin Chavis, then-president and CEO of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, joined with ministers of African-American churches and representatives of the Occupy Wall Street Movement to launch “Occupy the Dream,” a coalition of faith leaders and the Occupy Movement to promote a “National Day of Action” on Martin Luther King Day in 2012 to draw attention to what the coalition called “the gross injustice visited upon the 99% by a narrow financial elite. ”¹¹

Leadership

The co-founders of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network are Russell Simmons and Ben Chavis. ¹

Russell Simmons is the co-founder of record label Def Jam and a business magnate who was reportedly worth more than $300 million as of 2022. Simmons was previously a drug dealer and a gang member who quit gang activity after someone he knew of was murdered. Simmons joined Def Jam at 26 years old, where he worked with artists like Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. ^{1 2}

Simmons was accused of sexual assault and rape in 2017 and stepped down from Def Jam and the other companies he was a part of after the accusations surfaced. Simmons was not criminally charged, and later moved to Indonesia. Simmons has agreed to pay settlements without admitting wrongdoing to multiple women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. ¹²

Ben Chavis is a minister of the United Church of Christ and a civil rights activist focused on environmentalism. He is the producer of the “Chavis Chronicles,” which is broadcast on PBS News. Chavis is also the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and sits on the board of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. From 1993 to 1994, Chavis was the executive director and CEO of the NAACP. Chavis was ousted as the head of the NAACP after he reportedly sent over $300,000 in NAACP funds to settle a threatened sexual discrimination lawsuit by a former aide, Mary Stansel. During his tenure, Chavis also incurred an over $3 million budget deficit for the NAACP. According to the Chavis Chronicles website, Chavis is focused on “corporate diversity and inclusion, human rights, climate change, voting rights, bridging the gap between civil rights and hip-hop, and criminal justice reform.” ^{13 4 5}

According to the Hip Hop Summit Action Network website, the board of directors for the Hp Hop Summit Action Network included Sean “Diddy” Combs, a hip-hop artist who was convicted in July 2025 of transportation for prostitution. ^{6 7 1 8}