Newly appointed TAG Records president Jermaine Dupri is making the label’s first impact not in music, but in the realm of higher education.
This past Friday (October 17) at Clark Atlanta University, the Atlanta-based mogul and a panel of celebrity judges awarded five distinguished HBCU college students from around the country scholarships of $10,000.
Through the “TAG Make History National Grants Program,” Dupri’s label conducted a nationwide search of over 100 college campuses, and the winners were selected based on their groundbreaking work in the fields of science, art, finance, and community service.
On hand at the award ceremony to give their thoughts of encouragement were NeYo, Chilli of TLC, MC Lyte, YoYo, and Russell Simmons.
“Just because you have a dream doesn’t always mean you make history,” YoYo explained to the jam-packed crowd of Atlanta University Center students, family, and friends. “It’s when you have a dream, execute it, and put it on paper…create that blueprint. Everyone has a dream, but it’s the ones that move that dream forward who succeed.”
“I applaud this program,” added NeYo. “There are too many people out here just living life day by day without doing anything. I don’t think that’s why we’re here. God put us there to do extraordinary things with our time. Situations like this encourage being great. The hell with the sky’s the limit, go above and beyond that.”
Mogul and “Hip-Hop Godfather” further opined on the lack of media present, specifically addressing how mainstream and even people within Hip-Hop culture itself fail to illuminate the positive work of its stars.
“When we’re doing something bad the media is always showing up. But doing what we always do it’s not newsworthy, so thank you AllHipHop for being here,” Simmons acknowledged. “The poet or artist was never liked in society ever. They give back a different inspiration by being the mirrors of our dirt. People don’t like that. But the artists see the contradictions in the world around us.”
With the scholarships awards, the students now have means to fund their diverse studies of vocal music and choreography, African-American antibiotics research, meal voucher programs, and accounting.