Mr. Simmons, 57, grew up in Jamaica, Queens, and became one of the first hip-hop moguls, expanding his ownership in a record label into profitable forays in entertainment, fashion and even prepaid debit cards. His capitalistic ventures gave him the opportunity, he said, to try to better the world through philanthropy and activism. On Saturday, in the Hamptons, he will host his 16th annual Art for Life benefit, a charity fund-raising event that will honor the comedian, Dave Chappelle, and the film director Ava DuVernay. Mr. Cuomo, who is also 57 and hails from Queens, is scheduled to attend.

Michael Skolnik, who serves as Mr. Simmons’s political director, said that his boss “believes truly that if he doesn’t use his celebrity for good, his celebrity means nothing.”

One of his first crusades in New York was to repeal 1970s-era drug laws that punished first-time, nonviolent offenders. He worked with Mr. Cuomo on pushing the repeal, and recalled meeting Mr. de Blasio at that time.

During the last mayoral election, Mr. Simmons said he joined other animal rights activists and advocates for the lesbian and gay communities in getting behind the lesser-known Mr. de Blasio instead of Christine C. Quinn, then the City Council speaker, who was seeking to be the city’s first openly gay mayor.

Mr. Simmons feels that Mr. de Blasio owes him and other activists. “You got into office because we put you there,” Mr. Simmons said defiantly. “We put you there. We can take you out.”

More recently, Mr. Simmons has supported other celebrity activists to try to sway elected officials. Jay Z met with Mr. Cuomo in December in New York where the younger hip-hop entrepreneur pressed for meaningful criminal justice reform.

On Thursday, Mr. Simmons spent the morning denouncing horse carriages. Later he had an afternoon Twitter chat on justice reform with Piper Kerman, author of “Orange Is the New Black,” and he spent late afternoon in south Jamaica, Queens, to support Life Camp, a nonprofit dedicated to curbing violence among young people. The camp received a $25,000 grant from his organization, RushCard’s Keep the Peace.