Grammy award winning multi-platinum recording artist Eminem joined the undisputed Hip Hop Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick to help raise money for a local Detroit organization during Wednesday’s fireworks celebration in downtown Detroit. Eminem performed before a $175-a-ticket crowd, atop a parking structure overlooking Detroit’s riverfront.
Mayor Kilpatrick, a young eloquent African American man, has been dubbed the Hip Hop mayor, because of his ties to the Black community, and his affinity for hip hop culture. Although most people use the term affectionately, there are others who use it to connote a negative, thuggish image. HHDX caught up with Mayor Kilpatrick to talk about hooking up with Eminem to raise money, and how he really feels about his title as Hip Hop Mayor.
People are coming to see the largest fireworks display in the country, there’s a family atmosphere, a lot of food, a lot of fun. This is what Detroit is about. I don’t mind it ( the term Hip Hop Mayor). It’s been used here to be a negative thing in our press; but that’s how I grew up. I grew up listening to rap, I grew up on hip hop and I don’t want to run away from it, but I want people to know that there’s much more to the hip hop community than just songs and music. There’s dynamism, there’s creativity, and there’s electricity. Together with all those components we can do anything. And that’s what I want people to know as well. I put a call in to him, asked him to come out and do it. He said yes, if he could do it for the city that he would. That’s a good man. He wants to do more and more for the city. He recognizes that he got his start, his grittiness, his style from the city of Detroit, and we’re thankful that he came out to represent his city.
The event raised an estimated $350,000 for The Parade Company, which organizes the fireworks and the Thanksgiving Day parade. Slim Shady also heads the Marshall Mathers Foundation, a non-profit group which seeks to benefit children in southeast Michigan.
