Top Native Hip Hop Artists to Appear at....

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Top Native Hip Hop Artists to Appear at First Ever Hip Hop Congress Minnesota Summit

NEWS RELEASE
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Amer Ahmed, Summit Organizer, [phone],
[e-mail]
Alyssa Macy at [phone],
[e-mail]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, January 30, 2006

Top Native Hip Hop Artists to Appear at First Ever
Hip Hop Congress Minnesota Summit

Some of Indian Country’s top Native Hip Hop acts will
be appearing at the first-ever Minnesota Hip Hop
Congress Summit to take place in Moorehead at
Concordia College, February 17-19th, 2006. Culture
Shock Camp, comprised of Quese IMC and DJ Shock B
(Pawnee/Seminole), Gabriel Knight Shield (Rosebud,
Lakota), and Maniac “the Siouxpernatural” (Minicoujou
Lakota, Cheyenne River) will be leading a Native panel
on February 18th on “Native Hip Hop in the United
States.” The panel discussions will focus on how the
rising Hip Hop movement in Indian Country has been a
powerful medium for expressing the ongoing issues
facing Native youth and tribes. Culture Shock Camp
will also perform Friday evening and Saturday evening
at the Hip Hop Congress’s “Midwest Hip Hop Jam Feat”
featuring Proof of D12, M-1 of Dead Prez, The Bedouin,
Alex Schein, Kanser, and The C.O.R.E.

Hip Hop Congress (HHC), founded in 1993, is an
international network and national organization with
college and high school chapters in thirteen states.
HHC’s mission is dedicated to promoting the culture of
Hip Hop to inspire young people to get involved social
action, civic service, and cultural creativity. The
first-time involvement of Native Hip Hop artists with
this nationally respected organization, both in the
entertainment industry and in the social justice
arena, represents a landmark event for Native Hip Hop.


In the last 10 years, the popularity of Native Hip Hop
has risen dramatically across Indian Country. It’s a
trend related to the overall dominance of Hip Hop
music today which has become the second
largest-selling music genre and a more than $1 billion
a year industry in the United States. HHC’s efforts to
showcase some of these top and up and coming Native
Hip Hop artists as part of the Minnesota Summit’s
weekend event is part of a growing national trend in
mainstream music that is recognizing the talent,
unique styles, culture, and messages that Native Hip
Hop artists are promoting. “"Indigenous peoples
involvement in Hip-Hop has been basically unheard of
in this culture, people from around the world have had
Hip-Hop artists exposed to the mainstream, now I feel
that the hundreds (if not thousands) of Native
American's in Hip-Hop should be represented, and
that’s what we're going to do,” stated HHC Native Hip
Hop panelist Maniac, “the Siouxpernatural.”

Native involvement in HHC’s Minnesota Summit is for
these Native Hip Hop artists is also more than just
about recognition of Native Hip Hop music and artists.
Brian Frejo, often referred to as one of the “founding
fathers of Native Hip Hop” and who has worked closely
with HHC on Native Hip Hop artists’ involvement
stated, “We are honored and excited to be involved in
the Minnesota Summit not solely for its recognition
and inclusion of Native Hip Hop overall, but that HHC
is promoting a really strong and positive message of
empowerment for youth.”

Frejo stated that, “Many Native Hip Hop artists like
Culture Shock are really out there promoting similar
messages to youth and our audiences across hundreds of
reservations and cities nationwide about the
importance of community, cultural pride, living drug
and alcohol free lives, and just expressing our
contemporary realities as Native peoples. Frejo added,
“I think we as Hip Hop artists and members of our own
respective communities that are facing a lot of the
same types of social, cultural, and economic
challenges share a common vision for the positive role
that Hip Hop can play in the lives of youth and our
communities.”

The theme for the HHC Minnesota Summit is "Politics,
Globalization and the Hip Hop Generation." Activities
will feature a major concert featuring renowned Hip
Hop artists; workshops, panels and discussion on
prominent domestic and world issues related to Hip
Hop, Race, Politics, HIV/AIDS and Globalization; and
workshops on Graffiti Art, Breakdancing, DJ'ing, and
MC'ing. Youth organizing will be facilitated by People
Escaping Poverty Project (P.E.P.P.) of Moorhead. For
more information and to register visit:
www.hiphopcongress or email [e-mail]