We Are Hip Hop Festival

Aleax “La Lexy” Mejia, Promo Pros Intern

As a Promo Pros intern, our job is to promote the We R Hip Hop Festival to the community and reach out to radio stations, news reporters and even newspapers. Hip hop to me is the community that all shares common interests which is of the four elements of hip hop: Graffiti, MC, breakdance, & disk jockeying. Hip-hop has and always will come from people who are born out of struggle in the slums of the greatest cities such as Chicago. Hip-hop was born as a means to escape the oppression that has been put onto minorities, and through this we have gained a new sense of being in a community in which each individual will be there for any other from this community. It has joined people from all over the world with the same issues and almost the same experiences.

I rap, I write graffiti and I breakdance. Hip-hop is nothing new to me seeing how the elements have come to me naturally. It was inevitable that hip-hop would become a huge part of my life because of the common grounds I have with the lyrics that I listened to as a kid. I was raised on 90’s West Coast Hip-hop by my uncle, listening to classics by Wu-Tang to gangster rap by Killarmy and rappers from Deathrow.

The We R Hip Hop Festival is just another experience that has introduced me to more people and taken me to farther places. Just recently I attended Cypher Adikts Chicago, and Redbull BC One 2012, which was the highlight of my summer because of the positive energy that was involved. Hip-hop promotes creativity, passion, unity, dedication, talent showcasing, and putting yourself out there shamelessly. By having Chicago based artists for the We R Hip Hop festival helps our fellow hip-hop heads further their personal passions for hip-hop and invites from all over Chicago to enjoy this experience. The festival is youth run which makes the entirety of it genuine.

This past Saturday, Legit released his new song “Soul of Revelation.” In this song he is talking about the last chapter in the bible. Then he refers to the disciples not God’s disciples but gang disciples. He also speaks upon every one baring arms, meaning everyone has guns. He can relate how somethings are hopeless. He talks about his hungry for something unknown.  Then he turn around and talks about how Christians are quick to criticize. He wants to be forgiven for his past. But he feels like if he goes for forgiveness he will be a hypocrite. He knows how some of his lyrics are disrespectful to his mom. In the end he wants to go to heaven and hope god dose him a favor and let him go to heaven.

to download the song go here!

- Sharde

“My purpose in being here is to spread the message and to educate myself in the art(s) of hip-hop. Just as J-Def believed, the overall message of hip-hop should be widely recognized as peace, love, and unity. With this festival comes a sense of community that is not only meant for Pilsen but for the Chicago youth as well. With a sense of community comes a well understanding of who lives within the community and what really matters.” - A. Mejia

“My purpose in being here is so I can learn and know more about hip-hop and how it can influence people’s lives.”- L. Chan

“My purpose for being here today and in the program is to support the Pilsen community in their passion as well as mine for all types of art. And to contribute to a day of peace and joy. To bring hope to this community.”- K. Franklin

“I want to spread the message of what hip-hop truly is and show that for some people its not just a hobby, but a lifestyle.”- B. Alcantar

“My purpose for being here today is to help out in communities other than my own and to be apart of something big this summer…”- A. Ali

“I’m here today to learn from the program what it it offers such as our guest speakers & movies. It has helped me understand things such as antiviolence and how it relates to rap & art.”- J. Hua