(AllHipHop News)
A healthy lifestyle and a desire to learn were the key points
emphasized by rap mogul P. Miller, who kicked off the It’s Time to
Fatten Our Brain’s Not Our Bodies tour Friday (April 23) at 61st Street
Elementary School in Los Angeles.
The
No Limit Records founder, along with his son Romeo and congresswoman
Maxine Water, were on hand for the event, which featured entertainment
and appearances from Cymphonique, Fabulous Girls, Lil King, Veno, Miss
Tami and The College Boyys. For Miller, the time is now to take a stand
in light of the current obesity crisis in the U.S.
According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67 percent of adults
are overweight or obese. In 2001, the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry estimated that between 16 and 33 percent of
children and adolescents were obese.
“The
cause is about the kids. It’s about eating right, exercising and the
most important, education,” Miller told Hollywood.tv. “These kids are
our future. It’s Time Kids is an organization that stepped up and said
‘You know what? Let’s get our kids into shape and let’s make sure they
have the proper nutrition. They understand the importance of exercise.”
In
recent years, efforts to combat childhood obesity have received
national exposure, courtesy of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move
national campaign. The effort works to help kids become more physically
active aswell as provide healthier food in schools and support
for parents while making healthy, affordable food available in every
part of the country. The Let’s Move website reports that obesity rates
have tripled in the past 30 years, thereby threatening the healthy
future of one third of all American children. As a result, the life
expectancy of children may be shorter than their parents, a first in
the history of the country.
Obama’s
involvement in the fight against childhood obesity did not go unnoticed
by Miller, who applauded the First Lady’s determination towards
tackling the issue.
“When
you think about the president’s wife, Miss Michelle Obama, this is a
movement that is spreading across the country. I definitely like to
thank the first lady for steppin’ up,” the mogul stated. “We’re just
gonna keep it going. Our focus is the urban community, the urban
culture and to make sure that our kids stay fit, stay in shape. When
you look at our kids in our culture, we have a lot of obese kids in the
community, a lot of kids dying from obesity and we want to fix this
problem. This is a problem that can be fixed by getting to these
younger kids and saying ‘It’s easy to catch up now than have to catch
up later.’”
A
program created by the nonprofit organization Urban Born, It’s Time
Kids is dedicated to helping inner-city youth attain success physically
with an emphasis on healthy living and mentally through stressing the
importance of education.
“I
want you guys to realize that you can be successful if you believe in
yourself. Think about it, believe in yourself, right, work hard and do
the right things,” Miller expressed to those attending the It’s Time
event. “We can be more than athletes and entertainers. We have an
African American president.”
Waters
echoed Miller as she showed her appreciation to the rap star and Urban
Born founder Johnel Langerston for taking time out “to help you to
understand how you can be healthy, how you can be smart, how you can
grow up to have a career and how you can have a good life. How many
people want to have a good life?
“Even
though I know you’re depending on mom and dad to do a lot of things
that have to do with your health and your education…you can do things
for yourself,” the congresswoman added. “When you eat right you won’t
get too fat because if you’re too fat then you can’t do all the things
you want to do. And so If you really want to have fun, if you want to
ride your bicycles, if you want to do things and not get too tired then
you gotta eat right.”
With
more stops planned for the It’s Time tour, Miller is confident the
outing will resonate with all who hear its message to kids to stay in
school, actively hit the books, eat healthy and exercise.
“This
is more than coming to one school. This is definitely a movement, said
the businessman, who deemed the trek as “a call to action. “We hittin’
all the schools across the country. This is a global experience and
this is for our kids. It’s for our culture.”
