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Rappers Lend Help To 'Drop the Rock'
Pubdate: Tue, 02 Apr 2002
Source: Washington Square News (NY Edu)
Copyright: 2002, Washington Square News
Contact: http://www.nyunews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1621
Author: Chloe Hilliard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)
RAPPERS LEND HELP TO "DROP THE ROCK"
Sista Asia is a soft-spoken woman, but when the conversation turns to her
yearlong mission, her words are abundantly clear. For the past 12 months,
Sista Asia has worked hard to bring "Drop the Rock" to life.
The compilation CD, named after an organization intent on having the
Rockefeller Drug Laws repealed--laws which some say disproportionately
affect communities of color--features artists such as Redman, Method Man,
the Cocoa Brovaz, and Rah Digga, and includes production by Bucktown
Productions and Klansmen. Working under Seven Figures Entertainment, Sista
Asia's goal in putting together this CD has been to relay political
awareness through music.
"I've been fortunate to work with most of these artists over the past 15
years," says Sista Asia. "It's just a matter of reaching out to them and
telling them what the cause was and coming together with it. It wasn't
really that hard. It was almost like [the project] was meant to be."
The goal of the project is to use the money generated by the album to fund
visitation trips for the children of those imprisoned as a result of the
Rockefeller Drug Laws.
"People get locked up for 15 to 20 for first time offenses and children get
lost in the shuffle," she said. "My project [will] buy buses for the
children for visitations."
Fast becoming one of the nation's biggest industries, prisons spend over
three billion dollars on inmate housing alone. With thousands of people
sent upstate, transportation for the families of the imprisoned has proven
to be a problem.
"God willing there will be a volume II, III, IV," she says. "As long as we
can keep it going we can create an organization just for the children and
buses."
Already the project has received support and press from Stress and Honey
magazines, but Asia believes that word of mouth is her biggest asset.
But when all that is said and done she is still looking for donations and
suggestions.
"Everything is done independently," says Asia. Even the artists volunteered
their services. An artist and industry insider herself, Asia first appeared
alongside Murder Box and dead prez on a single produced by Steal of the
Cocoa Brovaz called "Dedicated," off the No More Prisons Project. The
upcoming rally in Albany will showcase artists from the album. Steal and
Dun Verbal are scheduled to perform with Sista Asia.
"Our goal [at the March 26th Drop the Rock rally in Albany] is to make an
appeal and come to some sort of change," says Asia. "We want to educate not
incarcerate."
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MAP posted-by: Ariel