UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER:
We recently held a successful Elements event on the 5th of December. The event brought in 300+ people and raised $800 for our future project. We were told by the student union staff that it was the most successful event a student organization has ever organized. We also also collected a ton of canned food and got a lot more people interested in learning the elements. - Tom

CAL STATE LOS ANGELES:
CSULA HipHop Congress Presents: 1st Annual HipHop International Festival. It went down December 7th, 2006 @ The CSULA Golden Eagle Ballroom. The whole entire purpose of the festival is show how ALL nationalities, races, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and everyone period can get together for hiphop… -Laquan

WAYNE STATE:
This is Gerald Terrell Vice President of Hip Hop Congress Wayne State Chapter, Detroit MI as far as updates we are moving forward quite smoothly and things are really looking up. We are doing heavy recruitment right now so we can build our member base. We are holding our second mingle session on December 13, 2006 venue TBA. We are inviting all of our students and residents of Detroit out to this event to push the name of Hip Hop Congress. That’s going to be the end of this semester for us and trust me we have big things ahead for Winter 2007!!!

WASH U:
We are getting our budget mess figured out, we got a pretty good line up for next semester including One Be Lo, Brother Ali, Screenings of Rize, an STL showcase, and a round table on prisons. Other cosponsored events include the Chicago Afro Beat Project, the Eidan Reichel Project, and the Elena Rubin trio. - Yoni

USC:
Just a little facebook fun with our HHC group. We are getting people to post their favorite video via link to youtube on our group page. Finals are around. Nothing too crazy, just some procrastination fun.

WILLAMETTE:
What up? Willamette is holding it down in the northwest , recently we put on a farewell party to our Tokyo international students who are going back home at the end of the month. We sent ‘em off with the hip hop vibe, with DJ’s on the table, and a couple of our very own performing. As far as plans we are hustling up the university to get some money for a the Black Brown Unity Tour which all ya’ll should look into it. Hope everyone has a good Christmas. - Austin

INDIANA UNIVERSITY:
The IU Chapter is continuing planning for our 7th Annual Awareness Festival scheduled for late February. The past 2 weeks have been weeks of relationship building with other student organizations as well as local businesses/non-profit community groups. We established a strong bond with the African Student Association as well as the Global Living and Learning Community.

In other news, there is currently a Ugandan Rapper/Activist in the LA area that we are trying to bring to IU in February with the African Student Association. His name is Saba Saba and he is interested in doing performances/lectures/panel discussions and has already been to Syracuse and Penn State. You can contact him through myspace at http://www.myspace.com/krazynative. I believe he also has some type of documentary out too. - Tim

CHICAGO COMMUNITY:
Peace, On December,22nd and 23rd the Community Chapters of Englewood Chicago and Cabrini Green will be holding a Hip Hop X-mas Cook-out for the homeless and needy. - Willie J.R. Fleming

LINK OF THE WEEK:
This ran in Rolling Stone this week. Its a site that is constantly digitizing old concert audio from a former sound man. Its free (for now), so if you want to hear some great audio from 60s - early 80s of everyone from Jimi Hendrix to The Clash this is a great site.

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/

Peace
Berk

Hip Hop Congress will be holding its 6th annual conference in Athens, OH from July 4th to July 8th. Hip Hop Congress is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit organization and international grassroots network whose mission is to unite, educate, and empower individuals.

We utilize Hip Hop to inspire civic action and cultural creativity within the community. Hip Hop Congress has over 35 chapters throughout the country and works with artists, organizers, promoters and a host of other institutions and organizations. Hip Hop Congress is involved in education, culture, politics, social justice and industry.

This year’s national conference, co sponsored with our partners Unite Here, SPAN, and Hip-Hop Association (H2A), will continue to develop a national service infrastructure for HHC with a variety of other national organizations, student groups, artists and partners. This means working with more students, more artists and more communities. Workshops will include not only intensive sessions on the initial four elements of hip hop but also interactive discussions on Health Care, International Hip Hop, Hip Hop and Education, Women in Hip Hop, Event Planning, the Recording Industry, Youth Violence and much more. In addition, each night there will be showcase featuring independent acts. Performers that have participated in Hip Hop Congress events in previous years are Ghostface, Brother Ali, Zion I, Percee P, Living Legends, Jurassic 5, Tha Jacka, DJ Crucial, Common Market, and All Natural Inc.

We are extending an open invitation to our peers in Hip Hop activism, such as The Zulu Nation, The Temple of Hip Hop, Hip Hop Caucus, Mississippi Artists and Producers Coalition, Hip Hop Action Summit Network, to join us in Athens.  We also want to encourage and invite not only artists, organizers and friends of the organization from all over the country but also anyone with a desire to push hip hop, education, and society forward. With such an explosive year on the national and international front, this year’s conference plans to be a charged event with ripples that will be felt throughout the country.

Registration and officially schedule for this conference will be announced in the coming weeks. If you are interested in participating in workshops, performances, as a sponsor or supporter, please contact PR Chair Aaron Berkowitz at 314-809-2502 or email Berkowitz@hiphopcongress.com.

-Aaron Berkowitz - Hip Hop Congress - www.hiphopcongress.com - 314-809-2502

HIP HOP CONGRESS MINNESOTA SUMMIT

TO BE HELD AT CONCORDIA COLLEGE IN MOORHEAD, MN

The Hip Hop Congress will host its 2nd Annual Minnesota Summit: “Politics, Globalization and the Hip Hop Generation” from Friday, February 16th through Sunday February 18th, 2007.

Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that Hip Hop Congress means drugs, guns, and scantily clad women. We highlight the entire Hip Hop spectrum and advocate a broader vision of Hip Hop culture than the stereotypes often seen on TV and Radio. Hip Hop Congress (HHC) is an International Grassroots Network that educates, empowers, and unites individuals. We preserve and evolve Hip Hop by inspiring social action and cultural creativity within the community. Drawn from an evolving Black Historic and Cultural Forms, the Summit will be an opportunity to connect this modern cultural expression to Concordia’s broader programming in celebration of Black History Month.

The Summit will encourage participants to educate themselves on world and domestic issues, organize action, and recognize how hip hop culture can be used to create positive change. It will bring together a diverse group of people who comprise this youth-driven, youth-based, and youth-inspiring community. The goal of this year’s summit is to connect those interested in Hip Hop with education, social consciousness and community action. Furthermore, it will raise comprehensive discussion related to the politics and the globalizing dimension that defines our world today.

Download the Hip-Hop Congress Minnesota Summit - Press Release

This is a digest of development over the past few months of the progress Hip Hop Congress has made in new chapter development. As you can see, a lot is happening:

Chapter Development

This year has been REALLY exciting with chapter development.

WAYNE STATE: The Wayne State chapter is up and running! This is our first chapter in Michigan, holding down the motor city.

UCLA: The hip hop club at UCLA has recently affiliated with HHC. This is our SIXTH chapter in the So Cal region. So Cal is heating up.

GEORGIA STATE: We have a very aggressive campaign to get into Atlanta. Our first step is Georgia State, where students have begun setting the groundwork for a chapter. We already have office space.

CHICAGO: We are kicking ass in Chicago. With the formation of a Chicago council, we have created a strategy to engage the community and the local schools and organize the entire hip hop community in this important and influential area.

Read rest of story…

The Hip Hop Congress announces its support for Snoop Dogg in his
recent efforts to use music to stem gang violence in his home region
of Southern California. With 5 chapters and an artist coalition in the
Southern California region, the Hip Hop Congress hopes to help Snoop’s
efforts by continuing to promote positive hip hop events that help to
educate all people in the Southern California region about the
positive aspects of Hip Hop.

In the video Snoop plays a black gang leader opposite of B Real’s
Mexican gang. During the course of the video, Snoop plays peacemaker
and attempts to stop the violence.

Snoop has been quoted as saying, “There’s a lot of negativity in
southern California with the blacks and the Mexicans, so what I wanted
to do was put a video together to show some love and bring us
together. Music brings everybody together, so that’s what I’m doing -
using my music as a peaceful tool right now.”

Hip Hop Congress, the largest national Hip Hop organization, is
calling for artists across the country to use their music in similar
methods to influence the world hip hop community. Shamako Noble,
president of Hip Hop Congress, recently stated, “Black and Brown unity
has been central to the moral, political and economic progress of the
country since its inception. People in Hip Hop criticize Snoop Dogg
for his lyrics, but we commend him for taking such a bold step in
bringing peace to the streets.”

Amer Ahmed, the Chair of International Development, was also quoted
“Hip Hop is in huge need of the social issues of our generation to be
addressed by those with the most prominent and visible positions in
our community.  We appreciate the efforts made in this video to
address the socio-cultural challenges we face including damage created
from violence and hatred across Black and Brown communities.”

The Hip Hop Congress is a 501 (c) 3 Non Profit Corporation that uses
hip hop culture to inspire social and civic action and cultural
creativity amongst young people.

For more information about Hip Hop Congress, please contact Aaron
Berkowitz at Berkowitz@hiphopcongress.com

–
www.hiphopcongress.com