 They came from all over the Bay Area to La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley.. More then 35 underground emcees off the hardened streets of the Bay Area came to spit game on the mic about what many are saying to be the most vicious bill to ever hit a California ballot.. Props are in order for Boots of The Coup who over the past few weeks has been quietly holding some Arts & Organizing workshops at the Black Dot Collective and La Pena Cultural. He's been taking great pains to reach out to many of the 'street rappers' and alert them to various issues and how to leverage their power and influence. It looks like his efforts have paid off. Yesterday an army of emcees touched down at a massive recording sessions where they not only exchanged verses but also exchanged information on how to strategize and reach out to their respective communities. The way it went down was there was a producers, drum, machines and some musicians on hand. Beats were chosen and 3 emcees at a time went up put forth their verses about the Crime Bill. The ultimate goal was to collect all these songs and distribute them out into the neighborhoods so people are aware of the Crime Bill in time for the March 2000 ballot. More importantly as was explained by II Icognito one of the many emcees, this represented an oppportunity for emcees to come together and learn how to make sure they live up to the words they spit on mic. In other words this wasn't gonna be a bunch of artists coming together and making a record just to get noticed. Boots noted that initially when he started meeting with folks, a lot of the guys who had been in an out of jail didn't trip off the bill. They felt like it was more of the same stuff that is always being shoved at them. Jail to them was simply the price you pay. It came with the territory for doing dirt. It wasn't until they started studying and looking at the bill's provisions that they began to become alarmed and activated. For many of these artist the provision that hit them hardest was the fact that their juvenile records which were once sealed could now be opened up and used retroactively.. In other words, while many of them have been attempting to move forward on the correct path the new bill would have their past indiscretions catch up with them. Now folks who were never really into politics are not only up in arms but taking steps to see what they can do..The project should be done within the next month or so..
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