HIPHOPNEWSBLOG.COM has recently given Russell Simmons a bunch of props for his recent community service actions, all of which you can read about here.

However, what I was most excited about was his late-November “fact-finding mission” to South Africa and Botswana and it’s apparent intention of helping to empower Africans.

I was excited to see him come back with new facts and evidence, as well as some kind of plan to take control of the diamond trade away from greedy and once-murderous American companies like De Beers and place it in the hands of the Africans who should rightfully own and control it. After all, since most recent studies of the African diamond trade were apparently funded by the diamond industry, I felt Russell could give us the real unbiased story.

However, that never happened. Simmons came back to report everything was okay: that no abuses were taking place and that the majority of profits, some 80 percent, were going back to the Africans. Probably like most people, I believed Russ and took pride in hip-hop’s involvement.

However, yesterday I came across a blog written by the great Davey D that made me think twice. Apparently, many in the hip-hop community are under the impression that Russ was used by the diamond industry to counteract the negative attention it will get from the movie “Blood Diamond.”

Now although I don’t want to jump to conclusions concerning Russell’s involvement, after reading this account I think he definitely has some questions to answer. And big ups to Davey D for representing. I highly recommend checking out his blog by clicking the link below:

Bad Blood, Blood Diamonds & Why I Disagree w/ Russell

Peace.