(AllHipHop News) Celebrities like RZA, Brandy, Ray-J, Marlon Wayans and others came out to an exclusive mansion party outside of Hollywood to support the Congressional run of Kevin Powell, a politician with legitimate roots in Hip-Hop.
Powell is a 2010 Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn, New York.
The mansion party also brought out mogul/Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind and DJ J. Period, who spun the music for the event.
RZA performed with a full band, entertaining the those in attendance.
The event took place at the home of Jeff Bowler, a movie producer in the Los Angeles area.
Powell expressed his excitement at this biggest, most successful fund-raiser to date.
“I have been a Hip-Hop head since I was 13. I have been a b-boy, tagged
graffiti, used Hip-Hop as a tool to deal with social issues in our
communities, and I was a founding staff member at VIBE where I
interviewed folks like Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and many
others,” Powell told AllHipHop.com. “But nothing gave me great pride than this past Saturday night
in Los Angeles at our Hollywood for Kevin Powell fundraiser.”
Continuing, he said “To have folks like Marlon Wayans, Steve Rifkind, Ray-J, Brandy, J. Period and the RZA there to
support me meant so much. Yes, others were there. But Hip-Hop was really there.”
Marlon Wayans often quipped with those in attendance and jokingly encouraged Powell to become more active on Twitter. All of those in attendance took pictures and most publicly spoke of why they are supporting Powell for Congress.
Powell expressed why Hip-Hop and the youth must continue to be engaged in the political process.
“We got Barack Obama elected president in 2008. And now,
with my Congressional campaign here in Brooklyn, New York, we have an
opportunity to put into office someone who comes directly out of
Hip-Hop culture,” he said. “This is not
just my campaign, it is our campaign.”
Powell is requesting that supporters donate at least $5 to
“Kevin Powell for Congress” by Wednesday, June 30th, a financial benchmark for those running for this position.
(Click here to donate to the campaign and to read about Kevin Powell’s position on the issues.)
Kevin Powell has been an activist and community organizer for over 20 years, written 10 books, and is a renown public speaker. The core of his issues line in improving the public school system, job and small business creation, “greening” the environment, and ending violence against women and girls. He is also a founding staff member of VIBE magazine.