Take Back Your Family: How to Raise Respectful and Loving Kids in a Dysfunctional World

Stars of MTV's Run's House--dubbed "the new Cosby family"--celebrate family values in this inspiring guide to modern parenting

Despite being a hip-hop icon, an ordained minister, and a reality TV star, Rev Run's greatest accomplishment has been raising his six children--Angela, Vanessa, JoJo, Diggy, Russy and Miley--with his wife Justine. Their journey has been captured on Run's House, a show that celebrates--finally--a reality TV family that is functional instead of dysfunctional. In an age marked by shallow materialism and fragmented families, Rev Run and Justine have inspired millions of viewers by teaching old-fashioned family values applied with a hip-hop twist. In Take Back Your Family, Rev Run and Justine celebrate the role of parents and share their secrets to raising a respectful and loving family that can enjoy the good times while surviving the hard ones.

Rev Run — aka Joseph Simmons — is one of the founding members of the major pioneering hip-hop group, Run-D.M.C. The group had an enormous impact on the development of hip hop through the 1980s and is credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music. Born in Queens, NY, he is the younger brother of Def Jam Records founder, Russell Simmons. He is currently the star of the blockbuster MTV reality show Run’s House, MTV’s most popular show, now in its fifth season. He now spends the majority of his time spreading the good news through his Words of Wisdom and building the foundations of his family.

Justine Simmons wife to Rev Run — aka Joseph Simmons — and costar of Run’s House. She is also the designer of the Brown Sugar Jewelry Collection for Simmons Jewelry. They live in Saddle River, NJ, with the four youngest of their six children.

Chris Morrow is the author of Stir It Up: Reggae Album Cover Art and has written about hip-hop and politics for numerous publications, including The Source and The New York Daily News. A resident of Brooklyn, New York, he has been working as a speechwriter for Russell Simmons since 2003.