First rule in positive-rap marathon: No swearing
NEW YORK — Curtis Sherrod knows there's power in numbers. So when he decided to organize more than 100 rappers and poets in a 24-hour rap marathon where no cursing is allowed, he saw only the good that could come from it.
"There's a feeling of fellowship and communal family spirit that's generated when people are talking about positive things, about peace, about creativity," says Sherrod, co-founder of the Global Artists Coalition, a New York nonprofit organization dedicated to career development for young people.
"It affects your mentality. Just in the same way if you heard [lyrics about] bang-bang shoot-shoot for a couple of hours, you'd leave feeling a certain way. [The positive messages] have to affect you."
Rapper Kool Herc, credited as the founder of hip-hop, is set to kick off tonight's "rap-a-thon," a fundraiser for Harlem's Hip-Hop Culture Center, the city's first permanent hip-hop exhibit and the community center established by the GAC. Organizers hope to raise about $250,000, which would enable the center to operate with daily business hours. Currently, groups can visit the center only by appointment.
Given recent debates on the usage of the N-word and increasing scrutiny of violence and misogyny in rap in the wake of the Don Imus scandal, organizers hope this event shows hip-hop in a different light.
"We want to demonstrate that hip-hop can do something that's positive in nature
"It's all about balance," Sherrod adds. "People who want record deals will make records that will allow them to get a record deal. But you can't use the rappers who choose to go that route as a blanket statement for all rappers. For every [gangsta rapper], there's 10 other rappers that are trying to do positive things."
In addition to the rap-a-thon, local politicians and business owners are set to conduct a dinner seminar on the importance of young people exploring other career interests in case their aspirations of becoming a rapper or DJ don't pan out.
"We're showing kids that having a plan B is necessary, that they shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket because entertainment can be an unstable industry," says Raqiyah Mays, a host on New York City hip-hop station WQHT-FM.
