Rocky Mount, NC - Local youth saw a different side of hip-hop news Saturday, learning “hot tracks” to carry them through life. Motivational hip-hop speaker Nubian Scholar brought his Cit2bit methodology to Rocky Mount to stress the positive paths youth should take in life. Scholar shared personal stories about growing up in a household where he once counted 66 mice run across the floor in one day. The embarrassment of purchasing groceries with food stamps and having a sister addicted to crack.

The D.C. native told the crowd of about 40 youth and parents that hip-hop helped him rise above meager beginnings and helped him earn a degree from Howard University. “I understand there’s a will, there’s a way,” Scholar said. “I realize that if you use the power, the technique, the talent, the ability in hip-hop, you can transform your life and dictate where you go.”

Scholar could have easily gone down a path of drugs, gangs and hatred, he said, a path that will lead anyone to either a casket or a jail cell.

Using a booming voice, Scholar’s message was simple: believe in oneself and don’t cave to the negative pressures emulated by the hip-hop culture. He gave the crowd eight “hot tracks” or life lessons to live by, including make decisions for oneself, maintain power and focus, dictate the messages behind the lyrics and become the greatest of all time.

“I understand in this room (are) the African minds that can fundamentally change the world,” Scholar said. “Your power, your ability is immense.”

The Methodist Home for Children and Boys & Girls Club of Nash/Edgecombe Counties sponsored the afternoon event at the Powers Recital Hall in the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts.

Saturday’s motivational talk wasn’t Scholar’s first time in Rocky Mount. The Methodist Home for Children, Boys & Girls Club and local schools have brought Scholar to the Twin Counties in recent months for educational speeches.

“We hope that they see that the community is vested in helping them to aspire in whatever their dreams,” said Amy Jackson, a Methodist Home for Children family preservation specialist.

Cit2bit’s “saving lives 1 rhyme @ a time” motto provides youth with salient tools and hope, Jackson said.

“We knew he could definitely help in reaching them and inspiring them and motivate them in a way that is out of the box,” she said.

Source:
Rocky Mount Telegram