James Rosemond | |
---|---|
Born |
James Rosemond February 5, 1965 |
Other names | Jimmy Henchman |
Criminal charge | Drug trafficking, obstruction of justice and possessing and using firearms |
Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
Criminal status | Incarcerated |
Spouse(s) | Cynthia Reed |
Children | James Rosemond, Jr. |
James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond (sometimes spelled Jimmy Henchmen) (born February 5, 1965) is an American former businessman involved in the rap music industry and convicted drug trafficker.
James J. Rosemond was born in 1965 and grew up in a Brooklyn, New York housing project called Vanderveer. His parents migrated from Haiti in the 1960s. His parents divorced when he was young leaving his mother to raise five children alone.
Rosemond and several friends founded the music conference "How Can I Be Down" in 1992.
In 2002, Rosemond negotiated the fight between Mike Tyson and Lenox Lewis. It was the first time that a boxer demanded that after a million buys on pay-per-view, the boxers would split the purse 50–50 with Showtime/HBO.
In 2003, Rosemond along with the artist, he managed, joined Russell Simmons in his campaign to end New York's draconian drug law known as the Rockefeller drug laws.
He was one of several entertainment managers that were asked by the Obama campaign to use their influence to assist in securing votes for Obama in his 2008 run to for President of the United States. Rosemond and his peers as well as their clients were special invited guests at the President's first Inauguration held on Tuesday, January 20, 2009; where they were greeted with a private speech from President Obama.
Rosemond along with Shakim Compere and Mona Scott, executive produced BET’s “SOS Saving Ourselves: Help for Haiti,” a telethon held at Miami’s American Airlines Arena on February 5, 2010, to raise money for the devastated victims of the deadly earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 that killed close to 200,000 people.
Circa 1996 Rosemond founded Henchmen Entertainment, the company that would later become the rap management company Czar Entertainment. He was the CEO of Czar Entertainment, when it managed The Game, Sean Kingston, Brandy, Gucci Mane, Salt-n-Pepa and Akon. He was a known figure in the hip hop music industry, described in a 2012 The New York Times article as "a prince at the royal court, whose ties to rap music’s biggest stars were known far and wide." Rosemond was behind Salt-n-Pepa's "Shoop" and he was The Game's manager during a feud with 50 Cent when The Game recorded the diss track "300 Bars and Runnin'" In 2006, Henchman and 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) settled a lawsuit regarding a DVD that Czar Entertainment released about 50 Cent's namesake, Kelvin "50 Cent" Martin, in which interviews with Jackson were alleged to have been inappropriately used. In the settlement, a charity was created with funds going to support Martin and his children.