HAVEN: Hip Hop Against Violence Everywhere Now

Who is Diezel P?

DiezelP is one of many talented up and coming emcees who are involved in the beginning stages of a collaborative project entitled “HAVEN:  Hip Hop Against Violence Everywhere Now”

The goal of the HAVEN project is to

• promote local conscious hip hop artists, community-based organizations and businesses to a local audience
• link youth and other community members with vital services and resources
• engage communities as active participants in creating justice, peace and prosperity in their personal lives and communities

In Portland, we have

1. Many talented artists who believe “hip hop is too important an art form to be squandered”
2. Efforts to mentor youth with hip hop (also here)
3. Efforts to unite the various hip hop factions around a larger vision
4. Efforts to promote local businesses to a local client base
5. Community-based organizations (CBOs) that are providing vital services and resources as well as opportunities for community members to become engaged, conscious and empowered to make positive changes in our lives

What we don’t have:  These efforts working together synergistically to achieve sustainable hip hop-driven (props!) peaceful communities with vibrant local economies.

That’s where HAVEN comes in:  HAVEN is the vision to unify the above efforts around a common set of values and principles where everyone has responsibility and benefits from the results:

• LOCAL ARTISTS get paid for their work as accountable leaders in their communities while offering audience alternatives to mainstream dominant narratives promoting violence and misogyny
• LOCAL BUSINESSES obtain brand name recognition through exposure to local clients and patrons while helping to fund raise and support local economic stability
• CBOs establish links with clients and broaden their volunteer base while contributing to leadership development and community cohesion
• COMMUNITY MEMBERS gain access to local entertainment, services and opportunities to become more involved while giving back to the communities they live in

HAVEN provides several vehicles for this vision:

1. community forums on issues relating the state of PNW hip hop to community-based social change and the local economy
2. mix albums promoting HAVEN artists, and community-based organization and business partners to local audiences
3. collaborative concert events that inform and engage people as well as entertain them

We are in the beginning stages of conceptualizing and organizing this project.  More to come soon!  In the mean time, check out  The Cipher for some more inspiration!