Tweet
Ras Baraka, Deputy Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has teamed with various Hip-Hop artists and producers to create Hip-Hop For The P.E.O.P.L.E. (Providing Education Opportunity, Prosperity and Life Eternally), a new national community service program.
The program will use the power of Hip-Hop to promote violence prevention, gang awareness and education. The organization says it will aide in bridging the generation gap between youth and elders in various communities.
“The Hip-Hop For The P.E.O.P.L.E. initiative was created in attempt to save lives due to the recent increase of gang violence in the East Coast,” Baraka said. “On May 21, 2004, The City of Newark brokered a Peace Treaty among the 5 or 6 sets of the Crips and Bloods and this concept is an extension of that effort.”
A Hip-Hop CD compilation and full length film documentary is being produced to support what will ultimately become a world-wide campaign for the program.
The documentary will feature interviews with gangs who talk about their situations, political statements, spoken word and positive Hip-Hop performances.
“We have received an overwhelming response from local recording artists and producers and we are currently in the process of recording songs,” Baraka said. “We are also in contact with well-known Hip-Hop luminaries from New Jersey such as Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Rah Digga, Redman, and Treach of Naughty By Nature to participate in the CD and/or the documentary.”
On May 21st, a ceasefire between the city’s Bloods and Crips was reached. Baraka recently dismissed an article published in New Jersey's The Star-Ledger newspaper that said the New Jersey Bloods along with West Coast Bloods were planning an uprising in state jails and the streets.
Baraka said the article was a part of the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (Cointelpro), designed to ultimately break the ceasefire between the two rival gangs.
“This same thing happened in Los Angeles," Baraka said at a press conference that helped ease mounting tensions. "When the brothers did their peace treaty, the same kind of thing came out: ‘Gangs organized themselves to kill the police.’ That is utter nonsense. Now, they have created an atmosphere here, where police officers are fearful for their lives.”
The Hip-Hop For The P.E.O.P.L.E. CD compilation is scheduled for an early 2005 release.
Source: allhiphop.com
The program will use the power of Hip-Hop to promote violence prevention, gang awareness and education. The organization says it will aide in bridging the generation gap between youth and elders in various communities.
“The Hip-Hop For The P.E.O.P.L.E. initiative was created in attempt to save lives due to the recent increase of gang violence in the East Coast,” Baraka said. “On May 21, 2004, The City of Newark brokered a Peace Treaty among the 5 or 6 sets of the Crips and Bloods and this concept is an extension of that effort.”
A Hip-Hop CD compilation and full length film documentary is being produced to support what will ultimately become a world-wide campaign for the program.
The documentary will feature interviews with gangs who talk about their situations, political statements, spoken word and positive Hip-Hop performances.
“We have received an overwhelming response from local recording artists and producers and we are currently in the process of recording songs,” Baraka said. “We are also in contact with well-known Hip-Hop luminaries from New Jersey such as Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Rah Digga, Redman, and Treach of Naughty By Nature to participate in the CD and/or the documentary.”
On May 21st, a ceasefire between the city’s Bloods and Crips was reached. Baraka recently dismissed an article published in New Jersey's The Star-Ledger newspaper that said the New Jersey Bloods along with West Coast Bloods were planning an uprising in state jails and the streets.
Baraka said the article was a part of the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (Cointelpro), designed to ultimately break the ceasefire between the two rival gangs.
“This same thing happened in Los Angeles," Baraka said at a press conference that helped ease mounting tensions. "When the brothers did their peace treaty, the same kind of thing came out: ‘Gangs organized themselves to kill the police.’ That is utter nonsense. Now, they have created an atmosphere here, where police officers are fearful for their lives.”
The Hip-Hop For The P.E.O.P.L.E. CD compilation is scheduled for an early 2005 release.
Source: allhiphop.com