CHICAGO HIP-HOP SUMMIT MOBILIZES THOUSANDS OF NEW YOUNG VOTERS IN THE MIDWEST

RUSSELL SIMMONS, DAMON DASH, KEVIN LILES AND THE HIP-HOP SUMMIT ACTION NETWORK AWARD R KELLY, LUDACRIS, KANYE WEST, COMMON AND OTHERS FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EVOLUTION OF HIP-HOP

NEW YORK, N.Y. – MARCH 22, 2004 – Thousands of young people are now being registered to vote throughout the states of Illinois and Indiana in preparation for the convening of the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit, scheduled for Saturday, March 27, 2004 at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavillion (UIC), located at 525 South Racine Avenue, Chicago. The Chicago Hip-Hop Summit’s theme is “Taking Back Responsibility:Celebrating Hip-Hop & Empowering Youth.”

Doors open for the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit at 9am with a pre-Summit program of DJ music and videos. The formal program begins at 11am until 2pm, with an interactive panel discussion, whereby young people will have the opportunity to ask questions and create dialogue with the participating artists who will speak on different aspects of youth leadership, taking responsibility, the importance of voter registration, the challenges of poverty, economic development and career choices, among other topics. Those participants include Chicago natives and Summit co-hosts Kanye West and Common, Ludacris, R Kelly, Fabolous, Def Jam President Kevin Liles and the Def Jam crew, Roc-A-Fella CEO Damon Dash and the Roc-A-Fella crew, So So Def CEO Jermaine Dupri, Doug E Fresh, Foxy Brown, Mya, Loon, Raz B (formerly of B2K), Cam’Ron, Diplomats’ CEO Jim Jones and the Diplomats, Layzie Bone, Twista, Shawnna, Crooked I, Dwayne “Hump” Hobbs, White Boy and Def Poetry Jam’s Malik Yusef.

National achievement awards will be given to R Kelly, Ludacris, Kanye West, Common and others for their outstanding contributions to the evolution of hip-hop. In addition, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network will give a special award to George Daniels of George’s Music Room in Chicago for his contributions to the Chicago music industry. Columbia College in Chicago will also be recognized for its contributions to art and music education in Chicago.

“Our national voter registration drive is in full force,” emphasized HSAN Chairman Russell Simmons. “And, the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit will be a tremendous celebration of the growth and expansion of hip-hop, together with the empowerment of youth.”

Since April of 2003, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network has reached out to millions of youth through radio, television, print, interactive urban Summits and a number of organizational partnerships through HSAN’s national voter registration and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) initiative named “Hip-Hop Team Vote.” Those partnerships include the World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Smackdown Your Vote,” ABC Radio Network’s Doug Banks Morning Show “One Mind One Vote,” BET’s “Speak Now,” MTV’s “Choose Or Lose,” Clear Channel Radio, Clear Channel Entertainment, Radio One Network, TV One’s “Lift Every Voice And Vote,” Rock The Vote, Youth Vote Coalition and the National Newspaper Publisher’s Association (NNPA) Voter Initiative. The Chicago Hip-Hop Summit will be HSAN’s 19th Summit and represents the first in the Midwest to require voter registration to attend the admission free event.

The leading sponsors of the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit are Clear Channel Radio’s WGCI-FM 107.5 and Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Other sponsors include Clear Channel Entertainment, ICEE Records, Fresh Wear, W Hotels, Bill Jacobs’ BMW and Arlington Heights Mercedes-Benz.

HSAN President/CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis concluded, “The youth vote in 2004 will be one of the single most important national constituencies to express its right to vote and freedom of speech. Hip-hop is the new American mainstream and the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit will exemplify the power and radiance of the youth of America.”

For further information on the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, go to www.hsan.org.

Ellen Zoe Golden
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JLM PR
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Russell Simmon’s Hip Hop Summit Action Network; Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Music along with Rocawear, Armadale Vodka, other corporate ventures from Damon Dash; writer, filmmaker, producer, cultural critic Nelson George