Gun violence has plagued Hip Hop for years, altering and claiming the lives of numerous prominent figures in the culture. The Hip Hop Loves Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth across the globe, released their first project Stop Shooting Volume 1: Voices of Justice to help combat one of Hip Hop’s tragic pitfalls.
Clocking in at 17 tracks, the project contains guest verses from contributors from six different continents. Utilizing art as a response to violence and oppression, Stop Shooting Volume 1: Voices of Justice is a labor of non-violent protest aiming for the public to join them in the fight for justice and change.
“We feel the project is important because the hip hop community should be doing more in regards to taking action on issues around gun violence and police brutality,” René John Sandy II, the co-founder and executive director of the HHL Foundation said in a statement. “ It’s affecting all demographics of people. Having artists from all over the world take a stand and raise their voice is a great way to take action, unify, and create a solution for this.”
Founded in 2009, the HHL Foundation began planting seeds for Stop Shooting Volume 1: Voices of Justice in 2014 following the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner. Artist Terrel Lewis’ track got the attention of Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five, one of the key figures in police and prison reform after he and four other New York teens were wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in 1990.
Salaam would later add to the song and the finished product, “Times Are Changing: Hands Up Every Day,” became a testament to the power of the message and how a call to arms in response to ending gun violence would be heard and felt globally.
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Stop Shooting Volume 1: Voices of Justice features guest appearances from Lil’ Dee (USA), Maya Jupiter (Australia/Mexico/Turkey), Kamau (Brazil), Lady Mayesty (Spain/Dominican Republic), Xidus Pain (UK), Fatima Rivera (Chile), MC Shoog (Russia), Punchline (USA), Mohammed Yahya (Mozambique/UK), Dumi Right (Zimbabwe) and many others.
Stream the project in full below.
How many of these rappers will be gunned down because of making this song.
Protest against gun violence one day and then the next day you’ll be back talking about getting at your ops. Stop it, first of all you guys this called real life is no video game (Call of Duty). You guys need to smarten up and try and build up your community and guide the youth onto a better path.
I agree with the struggle to protect our community against gun violence. Believe me, I’ve noticed it happened on every neighborhood, every block, every playground, every city, every part of the country. “When will it end? Who is next to go down?” you might ask. There is somethin we just might have to deal with.
It’s actually a good album. Tracks 5 & 6 are super good especially considering they were children rapping. It’s was refreshing to hear hiphop like this. It’s be really cool if mainstream artists released music like this daily. It would totally change the frequency and shift paradigms in this culture. HipHop will die if it doesn’t evolve. It’s sucks that the devil Europeans control the media. They love promoting violence and sex but the only culture they have is death culture. So black to come together independently first, look for eachother for support and heal.
We have to address the single parent household crisis in the black community
And the white community.
Nah. Black people represent 12% of the population in this country, yet, nearly 80% percent of black children are born into out of wedlock, single parent households.
Guns are cool
your politicians representing you should help. i am moderate right wing but i think that all guns should be banned except for police, the military and hunters who undergo mental health checks regularly to make sure they are well enough to use a weapon in their sport. the problem is there is a large majority of politicians (including democrats) in d.c. who keep voting it down. and also the nra who are government lobbiests. i think it should be illegal for anyone to carry any gun at any time unless you should be required to do so.
Reading most of these comments most of you’ll sound stupid asf