Rap pioneer Kurtis Blow is taking his Hip-Hop Church America on the road for a concert in Southern California.
The Harlem-based initiative will hold a concert from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
Blow will headline the event, which takes place at the Cathedral’s grass lawn and includes performances from 2Five, Eastwood, Takim and TraCee.
DJ Battlecat will be featured in the 2Five and Eastwood sets.
The event’s host, Bobby Schuller, believes the concert will offer a chance to reach out to area youth who “have gotten on the wrong path in
life, living in a nihilistic, post-modern survival mode as perpetuated by some of their Hip-Hop heroes.”
“By bringing Hip-Hop Church America here, we’re showing that Hip-Hop can be both cool and fun, but also have a positive message,” Schuller said.
Schuller isn’t the only one who believes in Hip-Hop Church America.
Michael Nason, president and co-founder of Newport Beach-based The Machine Productions, is developing Hip-Hop Church America into a national TV show.
The Machine Productions is a multimedia entertainment company that provides audio and visual entertainment to a diverse, international consumer group.
Nason, a Hip-Hop Church America executive producer, has produced, promoted and bought airtime for Schuller’s “Hour of Power” show for
close to 30 years.
The show is broadcast weekly to more than 15 million people worldwide.
With the growth of the Southern California Hip-Hop scene, Schuller feels hip-hop can help with his role in the church of “integrating emerging world views and cultures into our ministry.”