Hip-Hop Week MKE returns, inspiring civic engagement through culture

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- This month marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop.

Milwaukee leaders are celebrating the genre's influence on activism and engagement, and getting the community involved.

Hip-Hop Week MKE uses music as a tool to connect the community with resources.

The week includes seminars and performances, with a focus on mental health, education, and advocacy.

"So many people have a relationship with hip-hop. Whether they're young, whether they're old, whether they're white, whether they're Black. They know some rhymes," said Alderman Khalif Rainey, the organizer of Hip-Hop Week MKE. "Hip-hop has a way of speaking to people, and speaking to their current situations and their living conditions."

Alderman Rainey started Hip-Hop Week in 2018. It's returning Aug. 21 after a three-year hiatus.

"Hip-hop week has become something that people who have left Milwaukee, return back home to come visit," Rainey said.

The main venue for live hip-hop throughout the week is The Rave, with shows from Jadakiss, The Pharcyde, and Babyface Ray.

As hip-hop celebrates its 50th birthday, a week of civic engagement honors the core of the genre's history.

"The youth took a bad situation - there was a lot going on in their neighborhoods and their community -- and they took a bad situation and made it awesome, and it's still going on today," said Antonia Anderson, the CEO/founder of the Milwaukee Hip-Hop Museum.

Hip-Hop Week MKE leads a unique charge to transform urban communities.

"This is the first time in the country where a government-led effort was driven through the means of hip-hop, to connect residents to vital resources," Rainey said.

Click here for a list of events happening this week.