Usually, when artists show up at a record store on a Tuesday morning, it’s to promote the release of their latest project, but on Oct 20th, N.C.-based producer 9th Wonder, Mississippi emcee David Banner and a number of other musicians spent their day outside of a Chicago, Ill. record store to help promote something far more important than a new music release. On Sept. 24th, 16-year-old Derrion Albert was beaten to death during a fight near his high school by a group of teenage boys. Cell phone video footage of the beating made national headlines and on Tues. many Chicago public school students, community activists, politicians, residents, and friends and family members of victims will be showing up at the crack of dawn, in attendance for an anti-violence rally outside of the the world-famous Chicago record store, George’s Music Room to, as a press release states, “call for an end to senseless violence utilizing the Hip-Hop art form as a catalyst for change and a platform for youth to engage in community awareness and activism”.
The rally–a collaborative effort put together by Banner’s Heal The Hood Foundation, 247HH.com, and MTV–will also double as a video shoot for a remixed version of the David Banner song “Something Is Wrong”, which he and 9th Wonder recorded together as a dedication to Derrion Albert. The remix includes Chicago emcees Skooda Chose (Cool Kids), Rhymefest, Naledge (Kidz in the Hall) and Twista who all make noble, apropos rap pleas for the country to take a microscopic look at the problems that plague inner-city youth in Chicago and all over the U.S.
George’s Music Room is located at 3915 West Roosevelt Rd in Chicago, Ill. The rally will begin at 6:00am.
