Hip Hop Congress

“In June/July 2008 14 different routes of the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba will be on the road visiting more than 120 US and Canadian cities. We will travel in school buses, trucks, and cars to Cuba via Mexico with medical and educational supplies collected from groups across the US and Canada as a collective challenge to the inhuman and immoral US blockade and travel ban” (http://pastorsforpeace.org/)

Please visit the Pastors for Peace website (above) for more details and to view the 8 minute documentary of the 2006 caravan to Cuba. This year will be the 19th friendship caravan hosted by IFCO/Pastors for Peace which is a collective effort to protest the blockade by delivering much needed humanitarian aid, raise awareness of the blockade, and ultimately lead to its end. One highlight of this year’s caravan however, is that New Mexico’s Hip Hop Congress Chapter, spearheaded by Travis Cole (Dj Philos) and Bryan Gibel (BuddhaNature), will actually team up with Pastors for Peace to create a cross cultural exchange between U.S. and Cuban Hip Hop communities.

The Hip Hop Congress ‘solidarity caravan’ will be traveling as one of the many Pastors for Peace routes through the States. Beginning in the Bay Area there will be several shows. [Then on to Los Angeles, Flagstaff Arizona, Albuquerque New Mexico, and finally Austin Texas]. Each stop will be accompanied by Hip Hop Congress artists traveling the full route and trip, plus local artists from each respective community coming out to support this exchange. Hip Hop heads are asked to bring old gear such as turntables, vinyl, etc,- anything that is in ‘good condition’ and can be donated specifically to the Cuban Hip Hop community
In the next couple weeks, Dj Philos and NM’s HHC will be releasing a press packet of Cuban HH mix CDs and DVDs featuring some of the artists who are participating in the exchange at the Cuban end of the caravan. These press packets will serve as the promotional tools to finalize and lock tour dates with local artists and venues in said cities (above). If you are in a city that is not being covered by the Hip Hop Congress route, there is a high probability that an IFCO/Pastors for Peace ‘friendship caravan’ will still be in your area. Therefore, if you are interested in putting on a solidarity show with the Hip Hop Congress tour, all aid gathered from your event could be dropped off with Pastors for Peace before leaving your area. Or, if you are interested in joining on one of the caravans or the Hip Hop Congress HH route of the tour- you are encouraged to get in contact with Pastors for Peace (cucaravan@igc.org) or NM’s HHC (nm.hiphop.congress@gmail.com).

For more information on my own collaborative efforts at being involved with this project in order to expand its impact, please see the forum post at Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Asher Underwood (young cush)
ninthtrybe@hotmail.com
www.myspace.com/ninthtrybe