Hip Hop Congress Awareness Festival unites diverse crowd

2009-05-25T08:00:34Z

Watching the MC with the dreadlocks, the interracial couple, kids younger than 12, asians, blacks, whites and Hispanics congregated in the Washington Neighborhood Center all listening to the same music was a rare and inspiring sight.

Today was the third and final day of the first Sacramento Hip Hop Congress Awareness Festival. The day was dedicated to a showcase of performances by open-mic artists, b-boys, DJs and street, conscious and hip hop MCs from Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as art displays.

Bay Area musician Rahman Jahmaal and local musicians such as Skurge riled the crowd with their inspirational words. Jahmaal broke down the beauty in the art of hip hop.

"I want to encourage you to be a little more active in your community," Skurge said to the audience over the microphone.

The festival was heavily focused on bringing together the community and local artists with the different art forms of hip hop culture, in addition to introducing the local chapter of the Hip Hop Congress to Sacramento.

Yesterday included performances by Oakland's Simone Nia Rae and former member of Jurassic 5 Akil.

HHC co-chairs Vanessa Amarro and Aman Smith agreed that yesterday's featured music industry panel, involving a discussion between seven speakers representative of the hip hop scene and participants, was a main highlight of the festival. Smith estimated that there were 30 to 40 people present, ranging from 8 years old to 45 years old.

"A lot of people were happy with the total outcome [of the panel] because it was such a diverse group of people," Smith said.

According to Smith, the seven panel speakers included music supervisor Marcus Barone, professional bass player Kevin Cane, music attorney Christine O' Connor, professor Erik Chun, LA videographer Todd Strickland—who previously worked with Alicia Keys, Usher, and Jaime Foxx—Sacramento rapper Bueno and graffiti artist and b-boy (breakdancer) Taz Roc, who previously worked on the Sprite "Obey Your Thirst" marketing campaign.

Smith expressed his excitement about the discussion that ensued about the future of independent artists and being successful in today's market; he said the Sacramento chapter will continue the discussion once every month or every other month.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tatiana Turner, local music promoter and film short producer, said the panel was "surprisingly informative and very interactive."

"There was a little bit of each genre, and with a graffiti artist and a lawyer on [the same] panel, you could see the unity," she added.

In addition to the main stage, there was a separate room set up with microphones for kids to work on their music skills.

Twelve-year-old Sophia Marx, who just began volunteering for HHC over the weekend with the encouragement of her mom, said she really liked the sense of community at the event.

"I don't get to do a lot of this stuff at home—work, sing and dance," she said.

Rae, who said it was her second time performing in Sacramento, expressed her pleasure in being a part of the event.

"Hip hop Congress is always positive. It's all for the love of hip hop," she said.

To learn more about Hip Hop Congress, visit hiphopcongress.com

Sacramento's first Hip Hop Congress awareness festival this weekend

2009-05-21T21:43:44Z

Want to learn about hip hop or the hip hop music industry?

This weekend provides a perfect opportunity--the Sacramento Chapter of the Hip Hop Congress will be holding its first awareness festival May 22 through May 24 at the Washington Neighborhood Center at 400 16th Street in midtown Sacramento.

Hip Hop Congress is a nonprofit organization that identifies itself as "an international grassroots network that educates, empowers, and unites individuals...preserv[ing] and evolv[ing] hip hop by inspiring social action and cultural creativity within the community." The organization claims more than 50 chapters nationwide, in addition to chapters in Europe and Africa.

Vanessa Amarro, co-chair of Sacramento's recently formed chapter and also known as Lady Vex, explained that the purpose of the awareness festival is to introduce Hip Hop Congress to Sacramento while educating and bringing the community together with hip hop culture.

"Hip hop is a beautiful culture that brings so many nationalities together...but it gets a bad rap because there are people that don't understand it," explained Amarro. Hip Hop Congress strives not only to educate the community about hip hop culture, but also uses hip hop to educate the public on serious issues such as AIDS awareness, she added.

On Saturday, the festival will host a music industry panel with experienced industry members in order to educate aspiring hip hop artists about music business law, marketing, copyright and business practices.

"There's a lot of artists that are coming out into the hip hop scene but they're not business savvy," said Amarro.

The festival will also feature a showcase of the elements of hip hop, including live DJs, live urban art (art pieces will be made on the spot), MC cyphers, and b-boys, or "breakdancers."

Performing acts at the festival will include Akil, former member of hip hop group Jurassic 5, in addition to local acts such as Verbal Venom, Righteous Movement, and DJ Oasis.

The festival will be held between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. on Friday, and between noon and 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $5 per day or $10 for a three-day pass. Tickets can be purchased in advance at United State, located at 1014 24th Street in midtown Sacramento.

The proceeds from the event will go to "the Foundation," an urban arts afterschool program at Natomas High School.

For more information about the event, visit: http://www.myspace.com/sachiphopcongress

For more information about Hip Hop Congress, visit: www.hiphopcongress.com

Sacramento Hip Hop Congress awareness festival

Hip Hop Congress Awareness Festival unites diverse crowd

Sacramento's first Hip Hop Congress awareness festival this weekend