>> the world is -- u.n. vergth investigators call on kim jong un'un's gospel, nazi era, north korea rejects the claim. hello there, i'm barbara serra. you're watching al jazeera live from london. presidential palace giving a mandate to form a new government. venezuela expels its u.n.

diplomats. asylum requests still up in the air. hello there welcome to the program. north korea's regime is committing unspeakable atrocities against its own people. according to a report filed by the u.n, warning he should be held accountable for the widespread torture in the secretive state. testimonies from deeffectors who survived labor camps. james bays has the latest from geneva. >> a north korean defect ohsaa weeps as she recounts the hue mill yais her, asked for their

identities to be withheld. there have been many investigations into human rights in north korea but never one as comprehensive as this. getting a clear picture of what goes on in the secretive state where people cope with extreme dep rdid he operativeation, gls execution, systematic rape and abduction of foreigners, many of these count as crimes against humanity, all a part of planned system of political control. north korea's leader, kim jong-un, once executed his uncle, and a number of others. kim just 31 took over from his late father just over two years ago. but the chairman of the commission of inquiry has written a letter of inquiry to

him. refer the situation in the democratic people's republic of korea, the country's official name to the international criminal court to render all those, including possibly yourself who may be responsible for crimes against humanity. >> no one will be able to say in the future, if only we'd known about north korea. as they said after the second world war. if only they'd known, it will be available in the report and a wake up signal to the world and hopefully the regulators in north korea. do not have the power to make that happen. this hard hitting report will be presented to the u.n. human rights council in about a month's time and they will then pass it to the u.n. general assembly. but neither of those bodies have the power to refer those to the international criminal court.

only the security council can do that and that's where the u.s.'s long term ally china has a veto. weight of the u.n. brings it a little closer. james bays al jazeera at the united nations in geneva. >> well amnesty international heard from more than 80 north korean defectors who say they are the victims of abuse. they spoke of starvation and murder during their time as prisoners. >> it is a place that would make your hair stand on end. cannot help you understand what this place is like. >> people got so hungry they would eat anything from dog food and cattle feed and beans left on the ground. i have heard some people ate beans and maize kernels stuck

inning animal dung. >> across the demilitarized zone, a politician has been jailed for 12 years for plotting an armed rebellion in support of the north. telling supporters to account south korea's infrastructure in the event of a full scale war at the north. denies, claiming he is the victim of a witch hunt. the leader of the fighting force of syria has been sacked. om asksomar sala reports. the face of moderate syrian opposition fighters. but in some of his fellow commanders he is inactive and spends most of his time out of

syria. now the supreme military council has sacked him. >> translator: due to the paralysis within the military command in the past months, the difficulty faced, the high military council decided it is meeting on the 16th of february to remove the general from his duties as military chief. >> this is the new man in charge. he runs the fsa's operations, he is popular among his fighters and said to have military experience. >> we believe this is a very important step but this is one part of the formula. one thing that you know that we have to do. the other part is about getting the weapons now, whether the new leader of the snc is going to be able to bring that much-needed support, that remains in question. >> but the new army chief will have a difficult task. the fsa has lost most of its

power and influence to other rebel groups present in syria. and the fsa is fighting an al qaeda splinter group, i.s.i.l. but of all the new military commander needs to provide his fighters on the ground, weapons to fate syrian forces. it is not clear if the replacement of the fsa's chief of staff will change the balance of power. but the opposition will to have a unified and organized force on the ground, to face the military might of the government forces. omar sala, al jazeera istanbul. speaking in indonesia, john kerry blamed syrian president

bashar al-assad for deadlocked peace talks in geneva, did nothing but continue to drop barrel bombs on their own people and continue to destroy their own country. and regret to say they are doing so from increased support from iran, hezbollah and russia. kerry went on to say, russia needs to be part of the solution and not contributing more weapons. fighting continues. in berezor, armed reckless from islamic state of iraq and the levant bombed a checkpoint. arrival oppositio -- rival oppon groups have been fighting. southern suburbs of damascus, a convoy of red crescent vehicles attacked

supplies reached on monday. president asked him to form the next government. the 39-year-old mayor of florence met president george napolitano on monday. first to make the country more governable and to create jobs. from rome, this is claudio levanga,. >> ahead of the arrival of italy's new governor in waiting. 39-year-old mayor of florence to form a new government. >> translator: we are preparing a new government and want to discuss it with the other parties. this is what we are expecting to do, constitutional reform by the end of february, jobs romp in march, public relations reform in april.

>> right wing demonstrators chanted, public elections now. first president to be appointed without an election since 2011. >> renzi said, italians needed to vote. where is the vote? we didn't vote for him. >> i'm not surprised. it's not the first time someone becomes prime minister without a vote. i won't vote anymore, what's the point. >> renzi will start now. a round of talks with political parties, as he knows he will have to win a confidence vote in both the senate and lower house of parliament before he can take office as italy's youngest-ever prime minister. jowrnljournalist franco says, it's far from getting a

confidence vote. >> who will be the real backers of the government? >> while renzi is expected to receive the support of the parliament it may prove more difficult to convince italians that yet another prime minister appointed by the president is what italy really needs. claudio levanga, al jazeera rome. >> joining us from rome is allen freedman who has just published a book on italian politics called let's murder the leopard. thank you for joining us on al jazeera. you have covered italian politics for decades. thank you barbara. >> do you think he the right person to lead italy right now? >> actually, barbara, i do think that if anyone can turn things around in italy it is matteo

renzi. the last government we had with prime minister was well intentioned but very weak. they didn't get it together. with mateo renzi, we have kind of an italian tony blair. if anyone is going to turn things around, he has to have the chance to try. because italy really needs major reforms. >> the third prime minister in a row who is nonelected. you interviewed the ex prime minister monzi. you say outrage in italy was more than anything, the end of democracy. do you think democracy has been sacrificed for the sake of stability? >> i think we have to distinguish between what's happening now, which is essentially a popular leader, taking over from a fellow the

brits would call wet or weak, since 2011, what we revealed in video, i documented in video, the president of the italian republic is supposed to hold elections, and the resignation only came in 2011, monte confessed on video that five months before he had already been having conversations and asking advice of people because nanapolitano had offered him. the president of italy is entitled to talk to whoever he wants to. but unfortunately the president on february 5th went to strassburg and said, i never raise ed that until november.

we have so-called two versions of the truth. it did cause a ruckus in italian politics, yes. >> and allen you have befer covering politics there for -- been covering politics there for 30 years. why this system just doesn't seem to work, so i know i'm asking you to summarize your book in a minute but what's wrong in italy? why is it so difficult to achieve any proper change there? >> well, in the book i say that the italians are 50% victims of their system and 50% accomplices. and the truth is that the italians want to change . the italian political class is discredited. the italians have seen corruption, bureaucracy, one of the highest tax rates in europe. so the italians are fed up. now it's time to change and the whole point of the book, let's murder the leopard, the leopard

is the symbol of fake change, those who want to -- who 68 they want to see change but don't want to. they have to do what tony blair did in britain, what gerhard schroeder did in germany. many, many things have to be done. will renzi do it? i think if anyone can do it, he'll do it, he'll have the chance. within a couple of months. it will be pretty clear pretty soon. >> thank you for joings us here on al jazeera-for joining us on al jazeera. >> thank you. >> so much more to come on the company, including diverted to geneva, a co-pilot high jacks a plane on route to rome. and the stars come out for the british film wawrdz, who durks awards, who got top honors just

ahead of the oscars.

>> hello there, time for a reminder of the headlines on al jazeera. north korea says it rejects a u.n. investigation into its human rights record. the u.n. heard testimony from up to 80 defectors who described the wide use of torture and execution. mateo renzi is poised to become the third unelected prime

minister in italy in a row. free syrian army, colonel abdul bashir. looking for german support in the country's political crisis, when president vikto yanukovych,. what did they say? >> they said first off they were very grateful to have been given an hour of the german chancellor angela merkel's time to discuss the situation in ukraine. they did not come out of the meeting saying they had obtained insurances that -- assurances to say that there had been economic sanctions imposed on the ukraine

or travel bans. that is not something angela merkel i has said. they would like that position to be taken at the european level. as one of the opposition leaders had said, former com economy minister, it's important to have this kind of support from merkel, we will keep fighting fg until we achieve our freedom concretely. the things the option would like to see happen is in the very near future for parliament to rescind the current constitution to go back to the 2004 constitution and thereby to severely curtail the powers of victor yanukovych. they would also like to see

according to yatsenuk, a new democratic republic, proeuropean economy, moscow having offered $15 billion to essentially give up on that eu deal it was poised to set off on and abandon this whole issue two months ago. >> now protesters have left the government buildings in kiev. giver us a sense of what's actually happening back on the ground there. >> well, it's a critical development to have had this street standoff come to a sort-of conclusion. because there are more than 300 opposition protesters behind bars. there were draconian laws against proacht protests, somete

opposition managed to obtain thanks pressure on the street. they left city hall and had been promised an amnesty of the people who had been investigated, some 200 protesters that were thought to be under investigation. that seems to have brought an element of stability to the streets of kiev. let's not forget what's going on in the rest of the country notably the west where many of the administrative buildings are occupied by antiyanukovych protesters. so that the powers of the president can be sir couple scribed and any new government would have the powers i.t. needs, the opposition feels, to engage on a more pro-european and pro-democratic course to fight the corruption that many ukrainians feel are reallie reay eating away at the body politic of the country. back to you.

>> nick spicer in berlin, thank you. authorities are questioning a co-pilot who hijacked his own plane forcing it to land in geneva. the co-pilot changed course for switzerland and landed his plane in geneva at 0502 gmt. tim friend has the report. >> reporter: the drama started over italy. the fear was this was a full scale armed hijacking. at this stage the passengers were unaware of the unfolding events. the plane eventually touched down in geneva at 6:00 in the morning local time. the co-pilot said he sought asylum in geneva because of

fearfearof punishment in ethiop. >> he announced he was the hijacker. >> all 202 passengers and crew on board were unharmed. the co-pilot could be charged with hostage-taking which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years according to prosecutors. tim friend, al jazeera. >> the venezuelan president nicholas maduro has ordered the expulsion of diplomats from the country. >> it is deployed operations this embassy, where they have focused on protest movements, to grant visas, but what this is, is just a front to engage in

contacts with the leaders and to provide training and financing to them, and to create youth organization hs whereby voyagess promoted in venezuela. >> rachel levin is with us from caracas. what can you tell us about it? >> what we know is they have 48 hours to leave the country, as we heard just now from the foreign minister himself. the venezuelan government is accusing these students meeting with the diplomats to give them visas. insighting violence.

>> there are demonstrations planned tomorrow for the capitol. tell us more about those? >> reporter: right. there is a huge demonstration that is being called by one of the opposition leaders named leopoldo lopez. this is the man that the venezuelan government has issued an arrest for him. authorities went to the home of his father looking for him. he came out and says he wants to call a massive rally tomorrow, going to march to the ministry of justice, hand in a list of demands that he and his supporters have, for the venezuelan government. what will be interesting to see is if the venezuelan government makes a move and tries to arrest him. if that is the case, we think perhaps things here could even intensify. all eyes tomorrow will be on this march and say if leopold lopez does indeed appear. >> thank you very much from

caracas, thank you. now, the pakistani government has cancelled scheduled talks with the taliban after the group has announced it killed 23 soldiers who have been held hospital staj since 2010. in a video statement the tarik taliban is in retaliation for killing of some of its men. >> translator: some local tv channels say the government and the army have decided to launch a military operation against the taliban. we want to make sure that operations that have occurred over the past ten years have never achieved positive results. these operations have resulted in millions of innocent women children and people displaced. >> best film at britain's top movie awards. the awards often reveal which films will win big at the

academy awards which are just in two weeks time. >> even the biggest movie stars in the world need some help staying smart now and again and hollywood's royalty were all about the red carpet in london. there's your best actress, catee blanchett. dame helen mirren who once won an oscar playing his mother the queen. gravity, was up for best film and best director. both of which it took. it had been one of the critics' favorites. the cast is american. the movie is set in space yet this counts as a british film. >> it wasn't filmed in outer space, it was filmed here.

the film is an international endeavor. it just so happens that british film making involves talent from europe and from both sides of the atlantic. >> oprah winfrey is one of the world's favorite women but she lost out to jennifer lawrence, from american hustle. somali pirate against tom harchtioharchtion captain phill- hanks captain flips. >> 12 years a slave has taken in $30 million in the first five weeks in u.k. alone. although it missed out in sheer number of prizes, it took two of the bigger ones.

so that is it for another year. the first in many when there was not one, not two but four strong contenders for all of its uprisers. will we have the same in the oscars? who knows, they take place in two weeks time, at the bathers in london. >> now a requirement of the headlines here on al jazeera. north korea says it rejects a u.n. investigation into its human rights record. the u.n. commission heard testimony from more than 80 defectors who described the widespread use of torture and execution to enslave the population. well, the report's chief author told al jazeera that the international community has an obligation to act. >> often during the court of this inquiry i have been asked by people who are concerned about the situation, in north

korea, well, can you expect anything to be done? can you really expect that anything will change? that north korea will change or that the international community will pick up the call for action? well, i do expect that the report will galvanize action on the part of the international community. >> leaders of the international community have been meeting with angela merkel, two months ago when president viktor yanukovych abandoned a land mark deal to get close to the eu. mateo renzi asked him to form the next government, to make the country more governable and also creating jobs. the leader of sir yah's

fighting force has left his post. replaced by another figure in the syrian army. swiss police are questioning a pilot who hijacked his own plane forcing it to land in geneva. he councilma commandeered the pr his colleague went to the bathroom. there's the address, aljazeera.com. my colleague will have more news at the top of the hour here in london. coming up next, witness. thank you for watching.

only on al jazeera america

if you can. so i have a voice and i use it. >> hip hop pioneer and business mogul russell simons is a man of vision. >> you can't fail until you quit. >> music, fashion, social action, the def jam founder is a pervasive cultural influence and a strong advocate for justice. >> the war on drugs has done more to detroit the fabric of the black community than anything that we can think of. not the effects of jim crow and the effects of slavery, it's the war on drugs. >> he's also a practicing yogi, who values daily medication. it's the subjects of his latest book, success through still ,. >> i want to be enlightened. >> i caught up with my friend russell simons at a recording stood know in york. how would you describe what you do? you are a -- >> i have no idea. >> you defy the kind of -- >> i don't want to have a title. >> let's say there was one person who didn't know you and you said, i am i am russell -- >> i am an inspiring yogi.

i want to be enlightened. how would i describe it. i philanthropic, social, political issues. >> aanimal activists. businesbusinessman. >> i can a music company again. i have three internet companing. i have a digital solutions company. i do a lot of stuff of i am a father. that's first. every morning, first thing, medications and take them to school. >> have you always done like 20 things at once? >> no, actually, just, you know, what happens is people -- i would start something, right, i am passionate, i go to work every day in that thing, right, and then smarter people than me come along and they take over. they take direction, but they really know how to run whatever it is that we are doing. right now my focus is mostly on a.d. di d. all depth digital. these new collections i am shipping to macy action is a

's is a thing as well. things that need attention you have to focus them. >> after being a father, is there sort of next job that's your most important passion? >> well, i like supporting social and political initiatives that make people, you know, -- promote well being. like this book coming out is good. i want all kids to meditate. my kids meditate and i think medications, it's one of the keys to have self reflection is good, yes. and all of the spiritual things they say are good. but the research on what it physically does to the brain, and what it does to the immune system and nervous system and what it does to change people's life, you are connecting the left and right side of the brain and it goes on and on about all the gifts that come from people sitting still for 20 minutes a day a couple of times a day. >> when did you start meditate something. >> i started meditating almost 20 years ago . i started it. m. trans dental medications which i know you do as well.

i started that more recently . eight, nine years ago. my book is a very simple kind of medications, based in mantra it had it. medical. demystifies the practice a bit and makes it accessible to people. >> when did you become a vegan? >> 15 years at least. >> why did you become a vegan? >> for the animals. >> tension of your animal rights work. >> 40 billion animals born in to suffering every single year, made to be born, not born, made to be born in to a short life painful, suffering , it's the worst car mick disaster in the history of the world. people say, why would you not take the holocaust or slavery or -- it's the worst car mick, worst, people say, you are going to get in trouble for saying

it's it's worst disaster in the world. >> why is it the worst. >> every single year we commit this. horrific disaster. the abuse of those animals. and i don't have to eat them. do i like sick. i am 90. i don't feel sick. i am in good shame. i can put both my feet behind my head. i haven't eat even animals in 15 years, i don't them them or their products, we don't neat them. dominion over animals does not need abuse of 40 million animals every year. >> what does car mick disaster mere? >> collective mass torture and murder . i just left fashion week and everybody in the audience had a fur. many of those cubs skins are taken off animals while they are still alive. it makes the fur shine.

do you think that's what god meant by dominion over the animals. if you believe in god do you think that means to rip the skin off animals while they are still alive and put them on your back . when you can put all kind of things on your back. >> tell me about your family. >> danny simons is a painter. my other brother is a poe at the time. joey. my father was a poet. reverend run, dmc. we have been in the arts . i fancy myself an artist. i exploit art. i work with artists and help them develop and realize their dreams. i love art and artis tech expression and i want kids to have it. i think it's critical for kids. >> i find if you can do it then you can just press buttons, especially celebrity allows you to do a lot of

stuff. connected muslims and jews in 40 countries, foundation for ethnic understanding. >> why was that -- you are not -- >> it was ease. >> i you are not jewish. >> but it was easy. >> it was ease any. >> i had jewish friends and muslim friends it started meeting with rabbi snyder at the time the secretary of the world jewish congress and his foundation, i was on his board. and i took over the board at that time and became a chairman, he's still the president, but i became a chairman because it showed me how much courage he had. to want to have that dialogue. and then we took on the idea of promoting exchanging pull puts with sin doings and rabbis and mosques. that was a moment. that really -- they needed it so badly. it was so easy to do. you get them in the room and they are like, he's a nice guy. even farrakhan and rabbi snyder all we wan they want to do is we off the mountain at what time it's a bunch of -- you know. but in the end he agreed the basis of their religion and ideas are is love.

>> i don't do you find the time. >> i got plenty of time. >> you say it's easy. >> got plenty of time to go here and go to lunch. >> you have 20 businesses, 30, 40 businesses. >> no, i don't want 40 businesses. >> you have 20. >> i don't know how many i have but not 40. >> 25. >> a lot of smart people and i have less businesses than that for sure. >> you have more than 10? >> not even 10. >> you have more than 10. >> no, i have the all def digital. one music, one thing that has components to it. i have fashion and culture. >> you write books. >> i write books. >> you are in films. >> films and books -- i am in the film business, yes. and i am an a are no, yes. >> and you have the yoga thing going, the new spiritual center and yoga center. so that's a thing. >> that's a thing. you can count things, i have things. >> okay. >> they are not all businesses. >> we are getting mired in semantics is what i am saying. >> i have a lot of stuff going on. i handle it. i know what do you want do. i don't know a lot of stuff, i have gut instincts on many things. i really do have a really -- i have an easy life. i don't work that hard. >> you were on twitter talking

about philip see mor see more hs death and your perspective about drug laws. >> all i said is if he were alive today would he go to jail or rehab. i said end the war on drugs. the war on drugs has done more to destroy the fabric of the black community than anything we can think of. not the effects of jim crow and the effects of slavery. it's the war on drugs have taken innocent deceased people. locked them up and educated them in criminal behavior and dumped them back in the hood with no hope. that game jail culture for the hood. not the schools. the prison has it. you learn, you are educated in how to do things that you never would have done just by -- and whites and blacks don't they use and sale drugs at the same rate? you can't have like the drug lords, when we are ending those laws, 94 1/2% of the people are black or brown incarcerated

under the rockefeller drug laws in a state which was not 94% black and brown, right? and we inning course rate more people than anybody in the world, you know that, america. is responsible for locking its own up. and creating criminals and a cycle of criminal natural comes, you knowcriminal atcriminalitie. >> mike the sam number 52 came out of the closet before the draft and started a little firestorm i think it's fair to say. you have been very vocal in game rights. tell me why. and then tell me what you think about this young guy. >> people are suffering. people need to wake up. consciousness, it's always the same thing, right? you have a voice, say gays should get the rights that we all -- the rights that we want for ourselves and the rights that we should give to others. the respect that we demand for ourselves, we should give to others. that's a simple mantra, i try to live by.

so i want to be able to get married again, not now. [laughter] >> i want to get -- >> well, let's hear what news you are making for me. go ahead. >> i want to get married again. people should have the right to get married. people should have the right to live freely in our society. you know, so things like that are obvious you know, if you see an injustice and you don't say anything, then maybe you have other issues. >> this kid, if end up playing in the nfl, and he seems -- >> he will play in the nfl. >> he has to get through the draft. but he would the first openly game nfl player. >> good for him. bad for america that he's the first openly gay. a lot of gay football players that will be proud of him and rooting for him. gay football players right now in every lock, he on almost every team who are rooting for

him . and straight guys like me rooting for him. so that's good. >> i think it's unusual to have someone who is running companies, but who also has this activism. >> you know, when you have a voice you use it, if you can. so i have a voice, and i use it. so as a person who runs a company, i have been to congress to promote a law . i influence, i promote for the president to get him in office. i traveled around this whole country and for other politicians, i have supported them. i have power. we get to talk about laws, my celebrity allows me the freedom to influence things that shouldn't -- my celebrity and money. i should not have influence. citizens should have influence and individuals. shouldn't -- corporations should not. i just know that. corporations should not have this kind of like -- the citizenses united, it's horrible.

anybody can wake up and run for president if they have the money money. even else can't. and the ones that wake up with enough money can be president you know, with the choice words, enough advertising. it's not -- we should have public funding for politicians. we should have a way to protect ourselves from corporations running out government and we should have a way to promote for the people to run the government instead. we should not have corporations over people running our government. corporations are here to exploit people. they should not have undue influence on politicians. that's not what the american system is built for, to have people paying politicians to do their bidding. and that's an importantish to you me that i will stay on as much as i can. >> is black hollywood integrated enough? more with russell simons when we come back.

welcome back to "talk to aljazeera." my guest this week is def jam cofounder russell simons. what were you like as a kid? >> well, they would have gave me ritalin or something. >> really? >> they have given me something to calm me. my nickname is rush. my company is rush. so i was a little scatter brained, a little all over the place. and i think now, you know, that you manifest in all the businesses, all the things that i am doing, but i think medications make it easier to balance those balls. >> did you think that you were going to be successful when you were a kid? >> i don't think so.

a lot of my friends died and went to jail over gangs and drugs and things. i survived and was lucky enough to find a situation where i could butt my energy. i didn't think i was going to be successful in this degree, of course not. >> when you look back what do you think were the things that made you success h. luck? >> a lot of luck. no question luck was a big one. finding one success really matters. for some people that success is an ongoing practice. i learned me my first success resilience and hard work and dedication and not quitting adds up to success, right? so all of my businesses, people think, global grind was not successful for four years, five years, fhat farm took six years for make a penny. my financial service took six years to start becoming profitable. everything takes a long time. and i think resilience and dedication, i learned that from not quiting in music.

you need to know that you can't fail until you quick. >> what mistakes have you made? >> i make mistakes every day. >> really? >> i don't try to counts them. if i counted my mistakes -- >> what have been some of the big ones? >> big mistakes. >> very rarely do you find successful entrepreneurs will talk about mistakes. >> i forget what they are. i don't have my gold records. i don't count a lot of the stuff that went -- i always think that everything i did wrong was an experience that there are no more mistakes. that the learning experience from struggling, suffering is the thing that makes you great or makes you realize that your truth. >> why not have your gold records? >> i mean, i lost them. i didn't throw them away i didn't take them outside and -- >> clearly if they mattered to you a ton you would have -- >> i don't carry a watt of weight from the part. the stuff that i did wrong or did right. and i don't because i don't think they should are too high or happy about these moments and

then so sad about these other moments. i think the idea is to move towards blissful experience in all situations. i believe in enlightenment and consciousness, nirvana, muslims have this idea of being awake and enjoying a moment and not carrying the weight from the past or having anxiety about the future or the past. >> how do you think you have inspired younger musicians and producers and people in the industry? >> depends how young, young like -- >> i am thinking of ludicrous, he's a big fan of yours and he thinks of you as someone who has led by example of things that he could do i don't think he's out as much as you are. he's definitely philanthropic. >> a lot of hip hop artists stick their neck out and have big mouths when it comes to issues that matter. and a lot of hip hop artists have philanthropic social and political initiatives. philanthropic, if you name an

artist there is a charity. lil' wage skateboards and parks. the ludicrous foundation is one that you think of. everybody has something that they are giving back. eminem does good work. everybody gives, not like congressmen, you can't name their charities. but you can name the charities for all of the rappers. they get a lot for telling the trying. they say such horrible sexual things. right? the artist should say what's on people's minds. that's an artist's job to tell you what people are thinking. not what they'll say. you know, what they are taught to do. what they are thinking. artists are from inside out. and i think that that's a good thing. >> what's been the biggest change that you have seen in the record industry? there is a lot of change. >> you call it the record industry. what's changed, i started digital. >> the music industry, one of the biggest changes in the music industry. >> i have a digital music

company with def jam, all def music and all def music is discovering musicians through the internet, promoting through musicians through the internet. it's the greatest vehicle, youtube is by far the place where music is consumed. the greatest place. this should be a collaboration between youtube and music industry. executives and there is. and my company and one or two others. eights a hole. why would we not partner with create music programming through, and innovate music through, or promote i believe owe visit music through through and not just left it happen in fronfront of us and ignore it. the music business has changed and shifted and look forward to and promote and manage and develop them should be on the mind of executives. not how to cell a cd. they are very slow. remember the napster guys came

to me and said, we want to meet the head of -- the head of the company, the chairman, he's like don't talk to them. don't talk to them? well, they are talking to you when you like it or not. so you sued them there is still another new napster, another creative. when innovation comes you have to embrace? "talk to aljazeera" and use it. that's what the music industry hasn't done well . >> what musician do you like. >> i sat with kanye yesterday. >> he's a genius. >> he is a genius. >> troubled genius. >> he says the truth a lot of times. he's not the best messenger are for the truth all the time. but says a lot of truth, stuff that we feel and don't say. something artists are supposed to do. i like ric rick ruben he's brilliant. i like that kid jay cole. i like christian

adoss, seems the did he notional strong. >> pharrell has had his moment. >> pharrell, that's my man, i love him, he's a great producer. there are a lot of very talented people. a lot of cool stuff out. >> let's talk for a moment about black hollywood. >> black hollywood. i have seen it come and go. i missed stormy weather. i am old but stormy weather and cabin in the sky and a few movies came out they were black movies. way before you and before me. but then there was many, many periods that black exploitation movies made a lot of money. my understanding is that kevin hart's movie has made over $100,000,000.85% of the people that have gone to see shim have been african american. >> is that a bad thing or is a good sign? >> it shows that there is a huge it shows there is a huge market and a huge white space that should be filled and that's what hollywood is doing is filling the white space. but when martin and jamie and cedrick and burn i and chris

tucker and dave chappelle and steve harvey and bill bellamy and cedrick the entertainer and -- >> every famous black comedian that you can think of. >> that came off def comedy jam, agents by the stage put them in places where they could excel. when they live in the ghetto they don excel. so lately we see kevin hearts. they put him in a movie. j.b. smooth, another comedian then both did def jam years ago and they were both on the show. j.b. smooth is an artist who got an amazing break. he lived up to the promise on curb your enthusiasm. integration or fish out of water outside the ghetto he can perform. 20 black comedians were in that role. integration is important. hollywood doesn't understand that. they say they do, and they make money doing it. sometimes, like fast and furious and, you know, there is no scandal without the black girl and she's the first one since julia, you don't remember julia, that's before your time. that's the last time a black woman was in an integrated show

as the lead. julia. >> why don't you -- >> say it again, jewel ya. only the old people know julia. >> why is that. >> you have to be 50 to know julia. >> diane carroll was julia. >> that's right. now it's kerry washington. >> why is it taking so long? the america we live in is for more integrated than it was in diane carroll's day as julia. >> the american we live in is far beyond hollywood. jerry springer is more integrated than hollywood. so i am not going to complain about it, i want do it. i want to make movies and tv shows that reflect the new america. >> why is it bad for whim packer and kevin hart to say black audience, black good, forget it, we are going to stay in this lane. >> nothing wrong with it. when chris tucker was with charlie sheen he was not hot, but he was an inning tri sr*eu take to white audiences kevin hart is such a big problem star and deserves an intimates national audience as well as

being a lead in a black movie. and i am sure that people are looking to filed those vehicles. but my point is that there is a lack of inter inter great in integration, itn aggressive pack of people. middle america who hates hollywood and some conservative groups that hate progressive ideas, big hollywood. i am sure that someone of them are happy to hear they don't practice what they preach when it comes to integration, when it comes to being inclusive. they can see some results from some movies and they will do what they see makes money, but they don't understand how to integrate properly. and that's okay. i mean, they are people who are -- but it's also an infrastructure, the black agent represents the black guys and he's segregated from -- you know, it's a very lily white executive field. and although they may be progressive, you know, hollywood itself, if you live there you are the black only one, they live in a very segregated environment.

we have to push the people that tell the stor stories to help make america better not are it beingk play what we can do. >> more with russell simmons on "talk to aljazeera" in a minute.

>> welcome to al jazeera america america. i'm stephanie sy. here are the stories we're following for you. united nations say in north korea there are crimes against humanity. being in venezuela, the president has expelled three u.s. diplomats. and hurting tourism.