Tacoma rappers clean up their act

By Cecilia Nguyen

The News Tribune

TACOMA – Congo Carter of Tacoma is on a mission to change people’s perception of rap music.

Carter, a musician and local music promoter, is part of the “clean” rap movement in south Puget Sound.

So what is clean rap?

It’s an alternative form of rap music – minus the vulgar and derogatory words often associated with the hip-hop sound.

“The negative rap is fading out,” Carter said. “America is down for a change, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks.”

Scores of people danced, sang along or listened to a lineup of clean rappers at a recent free concert at the Metro Parks People’s Community Center, sponsored in part by Congo Productions and Safe Streets.

“Clean rap pushes young people to express their feelings and describe the things in society that trouble them in a creative manner,” said Ivy Murphy of Safe Streets. “People can legitimately express their sorrows and frustrations without using the degrading words.”

Dozens of rappers performed both gospel rap or clean rap, while families, youths and adults soaked up the positive messages. Service organizations, including Safe Streets, the Tacoma Urban League and domestic violence advocates, also set up booths to reach out to the community.

Jacqualine Thomas of Tacoma made it a point to attend the concert with two of her seven children.

Thomas said she recognizes the importance of music in her children’s lives. Thomas, who lives a few blocks away from the community center, said she wanted her family to participate in a community celebration while encouraging her children to listen to a more sanitized version of rap.

“Rap has become a way of communication for the younger generation,” she said. “It’s poetry.”

Gospel rappers Deryl “Chozen” Botley, Tony “Judah” Channady and Corey Blake said the purpose of clean rap is to plant seeds of hope in the community.

Blake, who started rapping at age 7, acknowledged that the rap music he initially listened to was filled with messages of death. Within a matter of years, Blake said, he began living the negative life so many of the rap songs depicted.

“I’ve been on the opposite side,” Blake said. “Standing on the corner, selling crack and doing the negative rap. I’ve since undergone a major reconstruction.”

After reading the Bible, Blake and his fellow gospel rappers all said they wanted to use their musical skills to encourage positive behavior.

“We’re reaching out to people who can’t relate to regular church music,” Botley said.

And Carter’s advice to parents who remain apprehensive about any kind of rap music Rap is strong; it isn’t going anywhere. Instead of fighting our kids, let us compromise and find middle ground.

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