World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day 2020
Donation protected
Love, Peace & Hip-Hop is Going Virtual—and Registering Voters—on Sunday, October 4
This past April, the 8th annual World Famous Hip Hop Family Day was put on hold as the world stopped for an unprecedented global pandemic. Instead of gathering 20,000 people on Columbia, South Carolina’s Main Street, Love, Peace & Hip-Hop paused its festival plans until a safer option emerged to deliver its highly-anticipated event to an eagerly awaiting audience.
After six months of careful deliberation and consultation with local and state authorities, the Love, Peace & Hip-Hop committee is presenting a revised version of its annual festival on Sunday, October 4.
Black Lives Matter
During this time of waiting and watching, an uprising of consciousness and activism in the form of Black Lives Matter demonstrations has swept across America. Turnout at BLM demonstrations has ranged from dozens to tens of thousands of diverse protesters in over 2,500 small towns and large cities—all during the most devastating pandemic in modern history. In homes all over the country, there are signs in living-room windows that read Black Lives Matter and We Stand for Equality, and social media feeds are peppered with solid black squares supporting the struggle against systemic racial injustice.
For all the world to see, the coalition supporting Black Lives Matter has changed and it has grown.
“This year, our festival isn’t about big crowds, but it is about big ideas,” says festival director Janet Scouten. “In light of the growing Black Lives Matter movement, we believe it’s more important than ever to share this family-friendly event celebrating Black excellence and hip-hop culture. We also believe it’s vital to share it in a way that allows as many people as possible to celebrate joyfully—and distantly—in a difficult year.”
World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day, Revised
Love, Peace & Hip-Hop is proud to announce that this year’s revised 2020 World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day will be presented on October 4th as an on-line event headlined by the legendary hip-hop artist Rakim . The event will be filmed inside Columbia, SC’s The Senate in front of a small, socially-distanced live audience and live-streamed for FREE to thousands of online viewers.
“Since my first conversation with Rakim’s camp at the start of the pandemic, they maintained that he wanted to not only honor our contract, but give Columbia an unbelievable show. This made me hopeful that if an opportunity presented itself, we could still deliver our festival to our loyal and supportive audience,” says Love, Peace & Hip-Hop founder FatRat Da Czar. “Under CDC guidelines and state and local mandates, the safest way to pull that off would be with limited people in a socially-distanced and secure space, which unfortunately adds a ticket price. But with 10 days to go, I’m still hopeful that we can raise enough awareness and money to deliver this show free of charge, statewide, in a virtual capacity.”
(To purchase tickets to see the concert live, visit HERE. Note: The live Rakim concert at The Senate starts at 6 PM (with a 5 PM door) to a limited-capacity live audience in compliance with the Office of the Governor’s Executive Order No. 2020-08. To ensure the health and safety of guests, staff, and artists, this will be a seated only show following all COVID sanitation, facial mask, and social distancing guidelines. To further ensure health and safety, tickets will only be sold by the table to maintain social distancing between personal groupings and/or families. Tickets are mandatory for admission and are available for advance purchase through The Senate. )
Love, Peace & Hip-Hop's GoFundMe campaign will help cover the significant costs of live streaming the event, which will allow South Carolina families to enjoy the show online in real time.
Rakim Speaks
In addition to performing from his widely acclaimed musical catalogue, Rakim will converse on stage with special guest host FatRat Da Czar about issues of the day and how hip-hop is uniquely positioned as an important voice on these matters.
Hailed as “the greatest MC of all time” and compared to Thelonious Monk, Rakim first emerged onto the world stage in 1986 as one half of the golden age hip-hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim, with the release of their first single, “Eric B is President.” Rakim has received numerous accolades from Billboard, Rolling Stone, MTV, and a host of others. Few hip-hop lyricists are recognized as having as great an impact on the development of the genre as Rakim. He stood out as the first MC to employ internal and multisyllablic rhymes, which was a change from the simple rhyming patterns used in early ‘80s hip-hop.
The Power of Voting
Finally, because increased voter registration and turnout are key to fair and equal representation for all citizens, Love, Peace & Hip-Hop will combine the power of music with the power of voting.
To support and promote civic engagement by each and every citizen, this year’s World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day will host, for the first time in its history, a non-partisan voter registration drive in partnership with Secure the Ballot and HeadCount .
The date of our event, October 4, is the last day to register online to vote in South Carolina, and we will be working to both rally and register as many potential voters as possible before the 11:59 PM deadline.
DONATE TODAY
Support our cause as we celebrate Black excellence and Hip-Hop culture with extreme and deliberate purpose.
Donate TODAY to not only to help defray the significant costs of producing and streaming this event for viewers to enjoy online for FREE, but also to support voter registration and civic engagement--and make a difference that really COUNTS.
It’s Time.
*****
About World Famous Hip Hop Family Day
Presented annually by Love, Peace & Hip-Hop, this multi-day celebration capped by a free, family-friendly festival normally takes place the second week in April each year. World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day has grown from 3,000 in attendance in 2013 to 18,500 in 2019, drawing attendees from across the Southeast and around the country to downtown Columbia, South Carolina. This one of a kind, Black-owned festival gathers the community to enjoy the best and brightest live performers, DJs, B-Boy dance crews, hip-hop visual artists, and craft and food vendors.
About HeadCount
By reaching music fans where they already are—at concerts and online—HeadCount makes civic participation easy and fun. HeadCount stages nonpartisan voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborates with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, they have signed up over 600,000 votes through their work with touring musicians like Beyonce and Ariana Grande and events like Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
About Secure the Ballot
Secure the Ballot is a South Carolina non-profit organization making voter registration accessible through their three pillars: high schools & colleges, rural communities, and digital organizing. They believe in investing in young people, especially young people of color, by organizing in high schools, colleges, universities, and rural communities to empower a new generation of voters.
About Rakim
Rakim is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time. Emerging onto the world stage in 1986 as one half of the golden age hip-hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim, with the release of their first single, “Eric B is President,” Rakim has received numerous accolades from Billboard, Rolling Stone, MTV, and a host of others. Rakim’s recordings, including Paid in Full, Follow the Leader, and The 18th Letter, have sold in the multi-millions worldwide. Paid in Full was named the “Greatest Hip-Hop Album of All Time” by MTV in 2006.
Few hip-hop lyricists are recognized as having as great an impact on the development of the genre as Rakim. He stood out as the first MC to employ internal and multisyllablic rhymes, which was a change from the simple rhyming patterns used in early ‘80s hip-hop.
This past April, the 8th annual World Famous Hip Hop Family Day was put on hold as the world stopped for an unprecedented global pandemic. Instead of gathering 20,000 people on Columbia, South Carolina’s Main Street, Love, Peace & Hip-Hop paused its festival plans until a safer option emerged to deliver its highly-anticipated event to an eagerly awaiting audience.
After six months of careful deliberation and consultation with local and state authorities, the Love, Peace & Hip-Hop committee is presenting a revised version of its annual festival on Sunday, October 4.
Black Lives Matter
During this time of waiting and watching, an uprising of consciousness and activism in the form of Black Lives Matter demonstrations has swept across America. Turnout at BLM demonstrations has ranged from dozens to tens of thousands of diverse protesters in over 2,500 small towns and large cities—all during the most devastating pandemic in modern history. In homes all over the country, there are signs in living-room windows that read Black Lives Matter and We Stand for Equality, and social media feeds are peppered with solid black squares supporting the struggle against systemic racial injustice.
For all the world to see, the coalition supporting Black Lives Matter has changed and it has grown.
“This year, our festival isn’t about big crowds, but it is about big ideas,” says festival director Janet Scouten. “In light of the growing Black Lives Matter movement, we believe it’s more important than ever to share this family-friendly event celebrating Black excellence and hip-hop culture. We also believe it’s vital to share it in a way that allows as many people as possible to celebrate joyfully—and distantly—in a difficult year.”
World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day, Revised
Love, Peace & Hip-Hop is proud to announce that this year’s revised 2020 World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day will be presented on October 4th as an on-line event headlined by the legendary hip-hop artist Rakim . The event will be filmed inside Columbia, SC’s The Senate in front of a small, socially-distanced live audience and live-streamed for FREE to thousands of online viewers.
“Since my first conversation with Rakim’s camp at the start of the pandemic, they maintained that he wanted to not only honor our contract, but give Columbia an unbelievable show. This made me hopeful that if an opportunity presented itself, we could still deliver our festival to our loyal and supportive audience,” says Love, Peace & Hip-Hop founder FatRat Da Czar. “Under CDC guidelines and state and local mandates, the safest way to pull that off would be with limited people in a socially-distanced and secure space, which unfortunately adds a ticket price. But with 10 days to go, I’m still hopeful that we can raise enough awareness and money to deliver this show free of charge, statewide, in a virtual capacity.”
(To purchase tickets to see the concert live, visit HERE. Note: The live Rakim concert at The Senate starts at 6 PM (with a 5 PM door) to a limited-capacity live audience in compliance with the Office of the Governor’s Executive Order No. 2020-08. To ensure the health and safety of guests, staff, and artists, this will be a seated only show following all COVID sanitation, facial mask, and social distancing guidelines. To further ensure health and safety, tickets will only be sold by the table to maintain social distancing between personal groupings and/or families. Tickets are mandatory for admission and are available for advance purchase through The Senate. )
Love, Peace & Hip-Hop's GoFundMe campaign will help cover the significant costs of live streaming the event, which will allow South Carolina families to enjoy the show online in real time.
Rakim Speaks
In addition to performing from his widely acclaimed musical catalogue, Rakim will converse on stage with special guest host FatRat Da Czar about issues of the day and how hip-hop is uniquely positioned as an important voice on these matters.
Hailed as “the greatest MC of all time” and compared to Thelonious Monk, Rakim first emerged onto the world stage in 1986 as one half of the golden age hip-hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim, with the release of their first single, “Eric B is President.” Rakim has received numerous accolades from Billboard, Rolling Stone, MTV, and a host of others. Few hip-hop lyricists are recognized as having as great an impact on the development of the genre as Rakim. He stood out as the first MC to employ internal and multisyllablic rhymes, which was a change from the simple rhyming patterns used in early ‘80s hip-hop.
The Power of Voting
Finally, because increased voter registration and turnout are key to fair and equal representation for all citizens, Love, Peace & Hip-Hop will combine the power of music with the power of voting.
To support and promote civic engagement by each and every citizen, this year’s World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day will host, for the first time in its history, a non-partisan voter registration drive in partnership with Secure the Ballot and HeadCount .
The date of our event, October 4, is the last day to register online to vote in South Carolina, and we will be working to both rally and register as many potential voters as possible before the 11:59 PM deadline.
DONATE TODAY
Support our cause as we celebrate Black excellence and Hip-Hop culture with extreme and deliberate purpose.
Donate TODAY to not only to help defray the significant costs of producing and streaming this event for viewers to enjoy online for FREE, but also to support voter registration and civic engagement--and make a difference that really COUNTS.
It’s Time.
*****
About World Famous Hip Hop Family Day
Presented annually by Love, Peace & Hip-Hop, this multi-day celebration capped by a free, family-friendly festival normally takes place the second week in April each year. World Famous Hip-Hop Family Day has grown from 3,000 in attendance in 2013 to 18,500 in 2019, drawing attendees from across the Southeast and around the country to downtown Columbia, South Carolina. This one of a kind, Black-owned festival gathers the community to enjoy the best and brightest live performers, DJs, B-Boy dance crews, hip-hop visual artists, and craft and food vendors.
About HeadCount
By reaching music fans where they already are—at concerts and online—HeadCount makes civic participation easy and fun. HeadCount stages nonpartisan voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborates with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, they have signed up over 600,000 votes through their work with touring musicians like Beyonce and Ariana Grande and events like Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
About Secure the Ballot
Secure the Ballot is a South Carolina non-profit organization making voter registration accessible through their three pillars: high schools & colleges, rural communities, and digital organizing. They believe in investing in young people, especially young people of color, by organizing in high schools, colleges, universities, and rural communities to empower a new generation of voters.
About Rakim
Rakim is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time. Emerging onto the world stage in 1986 as one half of the golden age hip-hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim, with the release of their first single, “Eric B is President,” Rakim has received numerous accolades from Billboard, Rolling Stone, MTV, and a host of others. Rakim’s recordings, including Paid in Full, Follow the Leader, and The 18th Letter, have sold in the multi-millions worldwide. Paid in Full was named the “Greatest Hip-Hop Album of All Time” by MTV in 2006.
Few hip-hop lyricists are recognized as having as great an impact on the development of the genre as Rakim. He stood out as the first MC to employ internal and multisyllablic rhymes, which was a change from the simple rhyming patterns used in early ‘80s hip-hop.
Organizer and beneficiary
Janet Scouten
Organizer
Columbia, SC
Darius Johnson
Beneficiary
