Jadakiss and Styles P have been honored by Yonkers mayor Mike Spano for their efforts to give back to the local community.
In a speech at a Thanksgiving event this past weekend, Spano said: “You look around and you see Styles and you see Jadakiss. They’re not the only two famous people to come out of Yonkers, but they’re the only famous people that continue to come back and give back to Yonkers. Let’s hear it for them.”
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After the crowd gave cheers and applause for The LOX lyricists, Spano also gave a shout out to the rest of the Ruff Ryders crew at the event, which saw 10,000 turkeys given away for Thanksgiving, one of the largest such events in the New York area.
Additionally, Spano claimed that next year’s turkey drive was aiming to beat the world record of 15,000 turkeys.
Styles P and Jadakiss have spearheaded a lot of charity work in their hometown, with the former just last week hosting a plant-based communal dining event which gave away free food and also pharmaceuticals.
Jada has also committed to food drives around Yonkers neighbourhoods. He started the drives in honor of his late friend and fellow Yonkers native DMX in 2021.
The two have long been advocates for healthy lifestyle choices, especially in poor communities, and started opening juice bars across New York in 2011.
In 2021, Styles said: “The first step is putting good things in your body. So that’s kind of the first step to getting on target with being who you’re supposed to be, or feeling like the best you you can possibly be.”
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The rapper also talked about the importance of the stores in low income neighborhoods: “It is important that you take care of the forgotten. Obviously, this started with us being because we’re from a Black and brown community,” said Styles. “We’re from a poverty community, but why does that mean we don’t have to eat right?”
He added: “Why when you go to a wealthy neighborhood, you don’t see fried chicken spots on every block, you don’t see pizza shops on every block, you don’t see liquor stores on every block, why is this?”
