By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia
The Hip Hop Contest Judging Event will be held on the Morris Brown College campus, in the Dr. Gloria Anderson multipurpose com-plex room #3, located at 1 Walnut Street NW in Atlanta recently.
Music students at Morris Brown College, a historically Black university in downtown Atlanta, are judging a first-of-its-kind hip hop contest for currently incarcerated individuals in select State Department of Corrections facilities nationwide.
Students will assess the 500-plus submissions and pare them down to 25 finalists. From there, Grammy Award–winning hip hop artist Lecrae will select the winning incarcerated individual, record their track on-site at the jail, and have it publicly released.
More About The Contest:
This “Original Hip-Hop Track Contest” is hosted by Aventiv Technologies, a tech company that provides communications services and free educational and re-entry resources to jails.
“Aventiv is honored to partner with Lecrae, a long-time advocate of the incarcerated, and Morris Brown College to highlight these individual’s creative talents, provide an artistic outlet, and offer a platform for the community to share their voices and gifts,” said Dave Abel, President and CEO of Aventiv Technologies.
“We hope it’s a life-changing experience for the winner.”
Contest participants wrote their lyrics and song titles to one of three beats donated by hip hop record producer Zaytoven.
A track can be up to four minutes long, and the lyrics must be positive, without any curse words, violence, or gang references.
Lecrae, in partnership with Reach Records, will produce the track which will then be distributed for free to all incarcerated individuals who have access to music services and tablets provided by Aventiv, the parent company of JPay.
The general public will also be able to access the winning song via streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Any revenue made through streaming services will be donated to a 501(c)(3) charity providing rehabilitative support for the corrections community in the winning state.
The campaign winner will be announced on October 19, 2021, and the winning track will be unveiled for distribution by the end of November 2021.