Get ready — Run is in the 'House'
"Puffy came over to the house and brought his equipment and everybody," Simmons said. "And they were giving this party, and my son was dancing in the middle of the floor with Uma Thurman on one arm and Mary J. Blige on the other."
Hey, hasn't that happened to pretty much all of us?
Russell Simmons and Combs immediately saw the reality-TV potential. "They were both, like, 'You are a reality show show, man. You are a hip-hop grown-up. You are a father. You got five kids. This is crazy.' So we went home and set up a deal," Simmons said.
The result is "Run's House" (8:30 p.m., MTV), sort of a hip-hop version of "The Osbournes." Only without that drug-induced brain damage.
Run — one of the founding members of Run-D.M.C. — is a minister these days. "People always say, 'You're a reverend? Where's your church?' " Run said. "Well, I'm opening up my church on MTV. It won't be so much me preaching. It will be me showing."
Run is sort of cast as "Father Knows Best," presiding over — dominating — a household filled with love and children. He and his wife Justine preside over a brood that includes three children from Run's first marriage — 22-year-old Vanessa, a model; 18-year-old Angela, an honor student and aspiring fashion designer; and 16-year-old JoJo, an aspiring rapper; as well as 10-year-old Diggy, an aspiring basketball player; and 9-year-old Russell Jr., an aspiring filmmaker.
There's humor and there's love. This is not Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston — again, no drug-induced brain damage or disgusting behavior.
This is no average family, however — they're just dripping their nouveau riches all over the place.
And you can't help but worry at least a bit that he's putting minor children on TV. Which hasn't worked out so well for, say, the Osbourne children. Or Victoria Gotti's brood. But Run insists he isn't at all concerned.
"Some people run from the cameras. My family kind of runs to the cameras," he said.
Which might concern some parents. But not Run.
"It's like looking at a famous baseball player and his kid wants to play baseball," he said. "My kids want to do this. . . . Some people, whether it's the Jackson 5 or whatever are born to do this stuff. They want to do it and they're excited to do it."
Um . . . are you sure you want to be comparing your children to the Jacksons?
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com
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