Before the Rev. Al Sharpton, 71, became a Democratic-leaning civil rights leader, the Brooklyn native was a music industry insider and a hip-hop head who apparently once got into a heated altercation with the founder of a legendary hip-hop record label.
As the head of Loud Records in the 1990s, music executive Steve Rifkind helped launch the careers of successful rap acts such as Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Big Pun, and Three 6 Mafia. Rifkind, 62, had a personal history with Sharpton going back decades.
Rifkind now tells the story of how he and Sharpton went from being raised under the same roof to becoming bitter enemies.
Rifkind is the son of record producer Jules Rifkind. According to Dan Charnas’ “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop” book, Jules and his brother, Roy Rifkind, employed Sharpton at their Spring Records music label in New York City at one point.
“Sharpton lived in my house; he lived in my dad’s house. My dad raised Sharpton,” Rifkind said during an interview with “The Manager’s Playbook” host Mauricio Ruiz posted on Jan. 23.
The connection between the Rifkind family and Sharpton apparently did not stop Steve from confronting the civil rights activist over a managerial dispute in the mid-1980s involving the R&B group New Edition. Rifkind alleged that Sharpton and boxing promoter Don King offered each member of New Edition $1 million to manage them after the singers agreed to a deal with the then-budding businessman. The two sides came face to face in a New York hotel, where things almost got ugly.
“I’m crazy. Don’t forget. I’ve mellowed, but I still got that crazy,” Steve admitted on “The Manager’s Playbook” show before adding, “And I said, ‘I’m going to see you, motherf—-r.’ I say it to Sharpton.”
He then spoke about running into Sharpton and his entourage a few days later in a local deli he frequents. “There’s Sharpton with his f—ing crew, and I just smack him square in the f—ing head on 55th and Broadway,” Steve recalled.
He continued in his braggadocious tone about Sharpton, stating, “He knows that if I get touched, but I want to get touched, like let’s go, there’ll be a different type of war on his hands that he’s not going to want.”
New Edition’s Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant, and Johnny Gill did eventually sign with Steve from 1986 to 1988. That management arrangement became one of the catalysts for the silver spoon kid to establish Loud Records in 1991 alongside Joseph Safina and Rich Isaacson.
A clip of Steve sharing his story of purportedly striking Sharpton as retaliation for trying to poach New Edition did not land well once it landed on social media. The Neighborhood Talk reposted his quotes on Instagram, and people flooded the comments section to share their takes on the alleged incident.
“HE DID WHAT???! And y’all let him????” a poster enthusiastically wondered. A second individual had a similar bewildered tone when adding, “They let a [white] man smack Reverend Al Sharpton?!”
Sharpton’s youngest daughter, community organizer Ashley G. Sharpton, jumped into the fray by suggesting Steve could face legal repercussions for what she sees as making defamatory remarks about the National Action Network founder.
“This is absolutely wild and completely untrue. That’s defamation [by the way], and though Rev. doesn’t have the time to even address this farce, I will. The story doesn’t even make sense,” Ashley wrote as a reply to the post.
Some responders were not buying Steve’s tale of humbling Sharpton through physical violence. One person commented, “I don’t believe it, lol, and it’s definitely not a flex.”
“My spirit is vexed! It ain’t too late to get this right and make the ancestors proud!” exclaimed another commenter who had “black love” as part of their screen name. Yet another poster conveyed, “This didn’t sit well with me. Not at all.”
Steve may have to defend his statements about allegedly slapping Rev. Sharpton in a court of law, but New Edition’s Bell, 58, and Gill, 59, have confirmed in separate interviews that Sharpton and King did offer to manage the group.
