This is a CNN report on the Hip-Hop Caucus’ “Green the Block Initiative,” a campaign intended to address urban poverty and climate change at the same time.

The power of music and the power of politics met Tuesday, with a hip-hop mogul and one of the most prominent leaders in Congress joining their considerable forces to spotlight issues facing youth in America.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a youth conference co-sponsored by entrepreneur and entertainer Russell Simmons in Washington. The one-day event, called Keeping the Promise to Our Children, brought legislators together with entertainment A-listers, including Oscar-nominee Terrence Howard, who used their celebrity to advocate a variety of causes: foster care, health care and education among them. (more…)

The United Nations has launched a trust fund to build a permanent memorial for victims of slavery, and appointed entrepreneur and hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons as a Goodwill Ambassador to promote the project.

A 2007 General Assembly resolution designated 25 March as an annual day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and called for a permanent memorial to be erected at UN Headquarters to acknowledge the tragedy and consider the legacy of slavery. (more…)

Children Uniting Nations (CUN), one of the premier non-profit institutions working with at-risk youth, recently announced its partnership with Russell Simmons’ “Hip Hop Summit Action Network”, heading into the 4th Annual “Keeping the Promise to our Children” conference in Washington DC. Set for June 9th, HSAN president and historic civil rights veteran Dr. Benjamin Chavis held a key role in the new partnership’s formation, which will be formally introduced through a morning press conference held at the House Capitol Building and the following conference with panel discussions in the famous Woodrow Wilson Plaza located in the Ronald Reagan Building. (more…)

This is the trailer for “Lockdown, USA,” a feature documentary that chronicles Russell Simmons’ campaign to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the controversial New York State laws created in 1973 that became the foundation to America’s War on Drugs.

Cornel West’s last project, “Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations,” was off the hook – so I expect a lot this upcoming collaboration as well. Footage is from studio sessions of The Cornel West Theory’s “Second Rome” – coming soon, which will feature West on every track.

A steady stream of political energy will electrify the flow during tomorrow’s broadcast of the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards. And for one longtime hip-hop activist, the timing couldn’t have been better. “The awards were very political, with every single performer telling the audience to work,” said the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip-Hop Caucus, who’s been working closely with rapper T.I., a spokesman for the “Respect My Vote!” voter registration effort.

“T.I. wore a ‘Respect My Vote’ T-shirt . . . [he's] been very much engaged in the political process,” Yearwood told news sources. “T.I. can’t vote [due to his guilty plea last year to several gun charges], and he really wants to make up for that,” Yearwood continued. “He feels he owes a lot of fans in general, so his perspective is to do all he can to teach others about the system, and wants people to learn more about the political process.” (more…)

Hip-hop artist Common, a 2008 Grammy Award winner and five time NAACP Image Award winner, and Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention, are the keynote speakers for Third Annual Clarion University Hip-Hop Symposium on Thursday, Oct. 23. The program features speakers from around the world and an International Film Festival based around the theme “Hip-Hop Symposium 2008: Global Impact!”

Common and Kitwana will highlight the day’s events with their presentation at 2 p.m. in Gemmell Student Complex. A panel program will close the activities at 7 p.m. also in the Gemmell Student Complex. Kitwana, in addition to being the co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention is the author of “The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture.” He is currently an artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago. (more…)

Young people today who have embraced hip-hop as a culture might help to decide the outcome of the next presidential election. When it became clear that both parties had presumptive nominees, the Hip-hop Summit Action Network (a New York based non-profit) launched Voteforit!08, a non-partisan online video campaign to help draw young Hip-hop fans of voting age into the voting booths. The news public service announcement, which features Doug E. Fresh, George Lucas, and R&B chart-topper, Ciara, was uploaded onto YouTube in July.

Seven years ago, the Hip-hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) kicked off with a town hall type meeting with participation from entertainment and music industry leaders. Since then, the organization has been using Hip-hop culture as a bridge to connect youth to community-based initiatives. (more…)

The political campaign of Sen. Barack Obama has inspired young people to become involved in the American political process and many artists are using their voices, dollars and influence as effective instruments for political change, said hip hop experts, political activists and policy analysts at the Democratic National Convention.

The forum titled “Hip Hop: Be the Change,” sponsored by the College Democrats of America and moderated by author Bakari Kitwana, dealt with the increasingly visible role of hip hop, its place in the 2008 election news and beyond. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, of Georgetown University, said increased activism is a transformation of hip hop culture’s “radical political potential.” (more…)