• Hip Hop Saves Lives and Cocody Productions Present: Hip Hop Soul Jam – A Celebration of Emerging Artists for a Cause
• 8:00pm

Hip Hop Saves Lives and Cocody Productions Present:

Hip Hop Soul Jam – A Celebration of Emerging Artists for a Cause

Hip-Hop Soul Jam is a quarterly performance series showcasing emerging hip hop soul artists making music for a purpose. The event, conceived and produced by Hip Hop Saves Lives Founder Chad Harper, aims to expose new and positive talent in the hip hop soul community, while using the power of the genre for vital causes. In Partnership with Cocody Productions, the evening also seeks to bring together the new African Diaspora, and connect it to mainstream New York. Partying for a purpose, each Hip Hop Soul Jam event donates proceeds of the evening’s ticket sales to a select charity. The event format features live performances by local and international acts, highlights and benefits a chosen charity, and begins and concludes with a DJ led dance party celebrating music genres of the Black Diaspora.

“We want to give a spotlight to quality hip hop soul artists, those with a focus on saying something and creating music with artistic integrity, while showing the power of hip hop soul to effect change on a global level. We place emphasis on acts who follow their words with actions, personifying Hip Hop Saves Lives’ motto, ‘We don’t just talk about it, we be about it,’” Harper said. To this end he has teamed up with co-producer Jake Bright, a DJ and Director of African focused Cocody Productions, twice recognized by award winning radio program Afropop Worldwide and having produced events for The Touch Foundation and Alicia Keys’ Keep a Child Alive. Bright works with Harper to infuse an international (largely African) component to Hip Hop Soul Jam’s live music selection, while adding his DJ skills mixing African music with other black genres, such as hip hop, soul, reggae, dancehall, and funk.  

After holding its inaugural event at Harlem’s legendary Shrine Bar in May 2010, Hip Hop Soul Jam is excited to come to City Winery for a musical benefit.  The July 21st event will feature performances by three live acts, headlined by world roots band Brown Rice Family, Zing Experience, and Poofy and the Busboys. Proceeds of the evening’s ticket sales will benefit the Rural Haiti Project (www.ruralhaitiproject.org), which supports youth leadership and community development to strengthen rural communities of Haiti by motivating, empowering and supporting young people in rural areas to become leaders and builders of their communities. The evening will include a tribute to Haitian hip hop artist Jimmy O, who passed tragically in the 2010 earthquake.

HOST COMMITTEE
Juwon Ajayi, Linda Eboukle, Folake Eniola, Erika Faust, Dorothy Joseph, Dawne Marie Grannum, Catherine Ntabadde, Geoff Schwartz

ABOUT HIP HOP SAVES LIVES AND COCODY PRODUCTIONS.

Hip Hop Saves Lives, founded by Chad Harper, is a charitable/entertainment organization dedicated to using the power of hip hop for global change. Its primary focus is connecting artists and events to viable charities providing sustainable solutions to ending extreme poverty (www.hiphopsaveslives.org).

Cocody Productions (pronounced Cocoa Dee), formed in New York by Directors Tunde Agboke, Jake Bright, and Ken Oriwa, produces upscale events showcasing art, music, film, non-profit activities, business, and fashion of Africa and the African Diaspora (www.cocodyproductions.net/). Cocody’s past events, alliances, and productions include Le Cirque Afrique at New York’s legendary Le Cirque, the Africa Investor Award Series at The New York Stock Exchange, and multiple events with Alicia Keys’ Keep a Child Alive.

ON THE WEB LINKS
http://www.hiphopsaveslives.org/
http://www.myspace.com/djakeny