Voter Guide outreach’s got soul
Roxanne and Carly tabled at the Big Throwback last night, where former Leaguer Omar-Abdul was spinning his new finds. Nice to see everyone!
Check out our 2009 Voter Guide
Local Election May 19th
See candidate responses for Mayor, City Council, School Board, County Council, and even the Judicial races here on our website:
http://pahotsheet.com/2009-voter-guide
We wanted to make sure we got answers from the candidates on important issues, so we collaborated with the Sierra Club Allegheny Group and Planned Parenthood of Western PA to come up with the questions for this voter guide.
Consider this one more tool in your arsenal to elect the most responsive and responsible government possible. More voter guides are coming from groups like A+ Schools and the League of Women Voters, and we’ll link them here once they’re available, too.
And please join us for our Voter Guide Release Party, Saturday April 4th at Town Tavern on Carson Street from 9pm-Midnight. A $5 donation gets you in for a make-your-own-taco bar with chips and salsa and also a cheese-and-veggie option, with $2 wine, beer, and well drinks.
Add in a DJ and the chance to meet and chat with some of the candidates, and you’ve got a great night and can help us with our mission to inform and turn out young voters. (Roxanne and I are guest bartending!)
We’d love to get your feedback, so please leave a comment or send us an email with your thoughts and suggestions.
-Carly
Tags: allegheny county, candidates, city council, common pleas, commonwealth court, county council, election, judicial, local, mayor, mayoral, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, primary, school board, superior court, supreme court, vote, voter, voter guideThe RNC is getting a Hip-Hop makeover
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele
As a follow-up to our recent post about hip-hop’s important role in making politics engaging, yesterday our friend Carolyn pointed out there was an article in The Washington Times that indicates the newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele realizes that hip-hop is a force to be reckoned with — and a necessary one for the promotion of his party.
“We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”
“It will be avant garde, technically,” he said. “It will come to table with things that will surprise everyone - off the hook.”
Though the hip-hop genre and culture has certainly grown in popularity to become more widely popular , I am wondering how artists and fans alike will respond to any fabricated attempts to harness their support this way. While one could argue that the popularization of modern hip-hop has led to a level of commercialization that might see itself as “message for hire”, I think that the very reason activism through hip-hop has been a compelling force is because the artists have had the room to talk about what is on their mind — whether it’s glorifying booty and bling or condemning violence and kids dying on the street.
As hip-hop is deliberately co-opted more and more as the best tool to target young and minority voters, will fans see through it all? Will they care?
-Carly
Tags: civic engagment, hip-hop, message, Michael S. Steele, minority, Pennsylvania, political, politics, RNC, vote, voters, YouthHip Hop and Civic Engagement
We at the PA League have always believed that hip hop culture can be an excellent way to introduce people who are not deeply engaged to political thinking. When I was a kid we listened to Public Enemy, in this past year even Young Jeezy, not known for his political outspokenness, brought us a track about politics and hosted an inauguration party.
Starting last year our sister org, the PA League’s Education Fund,has been the fiscal sponsor for the MC competition Rhyme Calisthenics to help advance the connection between rap music and civic engagement, visited hip hop shows all over, including of rapper and activist Immortal Technique, and participated in the Hip Hop Caucus. Nothing we did with hip-hop, however, reached the heights of Pittsburgh’s Mayor after the Super Bowl.
Tags: Civic engagement, civil rights, freestyle, hip-hop, pa league of young voters education fund, Pennsylvania, pittsburgh, politics, Voting, YouthRhyme Calisthenics #5
Back in the new year! As always, the PA League of Young Voters Education Fund is proud to be the fiscal sponsor of this sweet local freestyle hip-hop contest.
Come watch as Rhyme Calisthenics challenges 16 of the region’s best and bravest MC’s to spin once again spin the Wheel of Skillz and showcase their improvisational prowess in 4 rounds of competition. Our past champions will be returning to the stage to defend their titles against a host of new competitors.
Boka, the last Grand Prize Winner!
Rhyme Calisthenics is this Friday, January 23 at the Shadow Lounge (5972 Baum Blvd in East Liberty). The event is hosted by Thelonious Stretch and also features a guest performance by acclaimed wordsmith Subcon. Doors open at 9pm and the competition begins at 10pm. $10 / Or just $5 before 10pm.
Party after the competition with DJ Huggy and DJ Vex from midnite til 2AM. T-Shirt Giveaways, Blue Room Massages and Live art by Lucas Stock and Kristoffer.
For more information visit rhymecal.com
Tags: community, contest, hip-hop, Outreach, pa league of young voters education fund, pittsburgh, Rhyme Calisthenics, voter registration, voters, YouthRhyme Calisthenics!
Rhyme Calisthenics!, originally uploaded by paleague.
Rhyme Cal is kickin it off at Shadow Lounge. Its too full so they’re moving people to the Blue Room. Roxanne says that’s where the food is!
-Dylan
This is how we do it…!
This is how we do it…!, originally uploaded by paleague.
Enough about Rhyme Cal…how bout the afterparty (in front of the Rhyme Cal
room)?! DJ Huggy was spinning some of the classic hip hop hits… You
should’ve seen the look on the cleaning guy’s face! Hey…they had to know
what would happen if they put piles of shredded paper, free alcohol, and
music in the same spot!
…ever seen Mac dance?! Looked like he was having fun to me! Again…this
is how WE do it!! We are all about having a good time as long as we are
getting the work done! (And there is PLENTY to do!) Ya gotta love this
work…
Roxanne
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Hip Hop for Habeas!
Hip-hop’s always been a music of rebellion and improvisation, about making art with what you’ve got
- be it some turntables and disco records, or just beatboxing and freestyling on the corner. From the days of Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop culture’s been struggling to overcome violence in our neighborhoods, the country, and the world.
So it’s only right that we get together from all over the country and rock the 9:30 Club in the capitol city to stop torture and tell our government it’s time to shut down Guantanamo.
The ACLU, Amnesty International and the Hip Hop Caucus got together so we could groove and get down against Guantanamo and the un-American acts of the government.
With people signing petitions in the back and a party in the front, we kept it hype. It’ll be a lot of the same cats at the ACLU’s Day of Action on Tuesday June 26th, 2007, and you know the League is going to be there!
Rev. Yearwood, event MC with J.Period on the wheels of steel.
Umi from the RGB Fam laying it down.
It wasn’t all rappers - the Readnex Poetry Squad blessed us with a bit of spoken word. (They were at the conference too - sitting right across the aisle from us at the scholarship session.)
Mystic and DJ Chela of the Universal Zulu Nation definitely represented for the ladies.
Hip-hop icons dead prez killed it…
Everybody in the crowd was caught up and full of solidarity with the struggle.