Black August 2007

NEW YORK, NY— On Sunday, August 26th, 2007, at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square, Hip Hop icons Mos Def and Talib Kweli return as headline performers, along with other surprise guests, to the highly anticipated and politically charged, 10th Annual benefit concert known around the world as Black August Hip Hop Project (“Black August”).

Black August, a project of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), strives to facilitate exchanges between international communities by promoting awareness about the social and political issues that affect young people in their communities. Every year, the concert raises money in support of political prisoners in the Americas, incarcerated for their efforts to end racial and economic oppression.

“What started in 1997 as a local collaboration between organizations to use hip hop as a tool to raise political awareness, has evolved into a major fundraising benefit that has taken us around the world,” says Monifa Bandele, MXGM national co-coordinator. “This tenth annual concert marks a tremendous milestone, because it not only represents a decade of progress in the fight for social justice, but also accounts for a support base of politically active young people that is now global… and growing.”

The very first Black August was held at Tramp’s, to a standing-room only crowd of 400 people. This year, in 2007, the concert will play to a crowd of more than 1,500 at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. Black August’s international presence has accounted for three shows at “Cuba’s National Rap Festival,” five shows in South Africa, including a show during “The United Nations World Conference on Racism” in Durban, and a U.S. delegation at Black August in Brazil and Tanzania. This year, Black August will send a delegation to Venezuela.

Black August in the past has drawn some of the biggest names in Hip Hop, both underground and mainstream, such as Erykah Badu, David Banner, Common, dead prez, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Dave Chappelle, Fat Joe, the Roots, Rosie Perez, Alicia Keys, Susan Taylor, Jean Grae, Les Nubians and Gil Scott-Heron, to name a few. Mos Def and Talib Kweli return as the headliners, marking their tenth year participating in the benefit.

“We’ve been big supporters of Black August since it first started, because we understand that music– particularly hip hop music– is the one element that binds people around the world,” said Talib Kweli. “To be able to play a part in educating young people, show them the importance of speaking up and making a difference, while also raise money for social and racial justice is a no-brainer.”

Over the past ten years, The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement has fought tirelessly for people and issues that have been the subject of an extreme miscarriage of justice, yet have remained underground and outside of the media eye. Through Black August, the organization has helped awareness of and
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funds for political prisoners. The Tenth Anniversary Black August is dedicated to “Hands off Assata”, a public awareness campaign about the unlawful imprisonment and solitary confinement of 1970’s freedom fighter, Assata Shakur. The show will also “Free Your Hood”, the anti police brutality campaign of MXGM, which documents and speaks out against racial profiling by the police within communities of color.

“Everyday, we’re confronted by reports of political corruption, inhumane treatment and ecological peril,” says Bandele. “Left unchecked and without a voice of dissent, we run the risk of accepting the unacceptable. We want the young people to know that, whether it’s considered hip or not, they should always feel free to speak up, and be the change that they seek.”

For more information on Black August, contact C. Zawadi Morris @ 718-636-6044.