Kel Mitchell has taken on a new role since starring in Nickelodeon’s iconic movie Good Burger. The two-time Emmy Award-nominated actor, producer, and comedian has now dedicated his life to God and has become a minister and an author. Now he’s taking on a new role as a gospel Hip Hop artist.
In an effort to display his devotion to the Lord, Kel is releasing a new single “Blessed Mode,” in follow up to his book BLESSED MODE: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith.
This won’t be Kel’s first stab at music. Kel grew up in Chicago where he participated in rap battles as a kid with the likes of Common, had a cameo in music videos like Kanye West’s All Falls Down.
Kel shared exclusively with The Source, “My sister worked at Metro Music, a popular music store on the south side of Chicago. One day Common came to the store and I was able to battle him, but I rapped like Kriss Kross at the time.”
The All That actor added, “I love Hip Hop. Before I did theater, Hip Hop saved my life. I loved graffiti, I was on a break dance crew, and I’m so excited to be back representing God in music.”
“Blessed Mode” will be available on all music streaming platforms on March 11.
Blessed Mode Ft. Nobigdyl Scootie Wop
Kel released BLESSED MODE: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith on December 14, 2021 and the book focuses on his ability to use his faith to push through his eternal struggles such as depression and addiction.
As you read through the pages of Blessed Mode, you will learn that in every emotional wall there is a blessed way out! You will be breaking through these walls widening that crack of light a little bit, day by day, so you can discover God’s blessings on you.”
“I hope this book can inspire others to embrace their blessings and find strength spiritually, mentally and physically! Life is a beautiful blessing giving to us by God! I cannot wait to show the world this side of me and how to activate BLESSED MODE!!
“Blessed Mode,” will be a great continuation of Kel’s evangelism. Kel went from starring in Kenan & Kel, All That, to sharing his personal relationship with the Lord and inspiring others through faith.
Be on the lookout for his new single on March 11.
Check out one of Kel’s early rap days when he made the Billboard Charts with Immature for “Watch Me Do My Thing.”
As we approach the end of Black History Month, it is essential to highlight a culture that bears an overwhelming significance amid its celebration. That culture is no other than hip-hop culture. While hip-hop has its month in November, National Hip Hop History Month, which was declared by Congress last year, is strictly dedicated to the happenings amid the all-inclusive genre of all races and ethnicities. Black History Month is generally devoted to pivotal moments in African-American culture. As the musical accomplishments of Blacks in America are often highlighted, the identity of hip-hop culture is also significant to African-American history.
Hip-hop’s existence is a product of the generational authenticity of northeastern America’s Black youth. It was a response to the conditions surrounding New York City’s Black youth’s political, economic, social, and cultural reality. With the early 1970s serving as the post-civil rights era, the social climate was filled with progressive revolutionary acts. The 1970s saw the height of the Black Arts Movement with contributions like The Last Poets, Gil-Scott Heron, for example, that showcased a flair of poetic chants that are precursors of hip-hop’s MC element.
According to author Bakari Kitwana, hip-hop’s earliest eras reflect the popular culture, globalization, pervasiveness of segregation, racial implications, and quality of life of African-American youth born between the years of 1965 and 1984. Such is evident with hip-hop’s most revered artists, including Tupac Shakur, Nas, and Kanye West, whose parents were active as activists and musicians during the civil rights era. Hip-hop was a response to the state of insecurity faced by Black and Latino youth of the South Bronx. The disco way of life was mainstream, and as the youth made attempts to participate in top-notch activities, they were utterly denied. In response, they developed a fascination with curating essential sounds, dance moves, and crews with available resources.
DJ Kool Herc conceptualized this act by creating the breakbeat. He selected two unique records and played them simultaneously, secluded the dance portion of infectious funk, soul, or R&B record-extending it into a sequence that allowed burgeoning b-boys and b-girls to shine. Herc’s companion, Coke La Rock’s deed of using the microphone during jams for shoutouts, crowd participation, and announcements was the trigger for the hip-hop MC. Thus, an activity rooted in the desire of the South Bronx’s youth bred a trend that traveled throughout the tri-state area.
Hip-hop culture spread throughout the globe, creating pivotal moments in African-American culture. The 1970s established hip-hop elements, the DJ, MC, graffiti artist, and b-boy. Disc jockeys were the hip-hop scene’s main attraction, with each pioneering DJ contributing an instrumental tactic to the craft. DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Wizard Theodore are heralded as critical pioneers of hip-hop’s DJ element introducing tactics such as breakbeats, the quick-mix theory, the scratch, and mixtapes. All of whom are Black men, respectively.
The MC quickly became a talent heard on wax and wasted no time attracting voices in nearby cities. The infant culture was met with class acts including, The Funky Four Plus One More, where hip-hop saw one of their earliest female rappers, MC Sha Rock, The Sugarhill Gang, Cold Crush Brothers, Treacherous Three, and The Sequence. The Black youth of Philadelphia was also privileged to the emerging culture in New York City. Lady B’s “To The Beat Y’all” made the airwaves in 1979, confirming that the once underestimated hip-hop genre honed a purpose beyond just a leisure activity.
As hip-hop entered the 1980s, it became a solidified way of life among the Black youth in America and the demographic’s first music genre. The golden era emerged with a new generation of advanced talent and transformed the genre into an industry that changed the lives of young Black men and women. Hip-hop represented the evolution of young Blacks in America who lived amid the posterior happenings of staunch Black liberation, bringing ultimate relevance to the discussion of Black excellence. Hip-hop will forever remain relevant in the theorem of Black history.
Pepsi Stronger Together, PepsiCo’s grassroots project aimed at local communities, held a pep rally at Saint Martin de Porres High School in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood, surprising students with over $37,000 in funding for their programming and future education.
Derek Lewis, President, PepsiCo Multicultural Business and Equity Development, and Fat Joe presented the school’s drumline with all new uniforms and instruments, as well as a trip to Houston to compete in an HBCU battle of the bands and $20,000 in scholarships for its seniors, in honor of the graduating class. Darius Garland, a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, made a surprise appearance, and DJ Envy, host of The Breakfast Club, played for the students, with Pepsi Stronger Together providing food and refreshments.
Several reports have confirmed that the prosecution in the shooting death of 20-year-old Black man Daunte Wright is seeking a 86-month prison term for the ex-cop convicted of killing him after previously stating that they would pursue a sentence well above the state’s sentencing guidelines.
Two months after former police officer Kim Potter was convicted of first and second-degree manslaughter, she will be sentenced by Judge Regina Chu tomorrow(February 18). After the smoke created by the prosecution during Potter’s trial, they filed a motion on February 15 for a standard presumptive sentence of 86 months.
The Attorney General’s office stated about the sentencing, “the appropriate sentence has to be the presumptive sentence set by the legislature until Defendant Potter can convince the Court that society’s interests, including those of Daunte Wright’s family and friends, can be met by some other disposition.”
Newly-elected NYC Mayor Eric Adams has reason to be concerned about the growing number of violent and often deadly incidents surrounding the city’s drill rap scene. In a late night meeting, Adams met with Brooklyn rapper Maino, Fivio Foreign and other NYC artists who are familiar with the genre and the culture.
Maino vowed that those in attendance would “roll out something together” with the mayor to quell the violence. Maino also said, “There’s been a lot of talk about drill rap, drill music in New York City, connecting violence with the culture, and I just wanted to create a conversation with the mayor.”
Olivia Rodrigo is signing with new management. The “Good 4 U” singer is now represented by Lighthouse Management + Media’s Aleen Keshishian and Zack Morgenroth.
The move seems to indicate that the seven-time-Grammy-nominated artist wanted to move to a company that bridges the gap between music and film.
This follows news of 18-year-old Rodrigo splitting with her former management, Kristen Smith last month. While TimeMagazine named Olivia Rodrigo as its Entertainer of the Year for 2021.
Lighthouse’s roster also includes big names like Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez and Gwyneth Paltrow.
You could use two hands to count the number of rappers who currently would rather be spitting bars on the microphone than living behind them. We have ten fingers, so lets count 10 notable rappers who are currently incarcerated.
In no particular order, YNW Melly, YFN Lucci, Pooh Shiesty, Casanova, Tay-K, Q Money, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, RondoNumbaNine, and Fam Goon Ralo are all locked up. This is just the list that we’ve accumulated. With more research, we could easily extend this list.
Tay K Casanova YFN Lucci
From Generation X to Generation Z, almost every era of Hip-Hop has had its share of rappers run into legal battles with the law. The judicial system has never been Hip-Hop friendly.
In the late ’80s, Slick Rick did a five year bid during the prime of his career. Snoop Dogg signed to Death Row Records just before being acquitted for first degree murder in 1993.
Snoop Dogg acquittal
Two years later, one of the most influential rappers ever, Tupac Shakur, served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges.
In 2001, Bad Boy artist Shyne Po went to jail for 10 years for his involvement in a night club shooting. In 2009, Lil Wayne sat down at Rikers Island for two years for possession of an illegal firearm.
Meek Mill was arrested and hit with reckless-endangerment charges for popping wheelies in 2017. He had to serve five months of his two-four year sentence. 34-year-old, Meek Mill, has been fighting the justice system since 19-years old.
This reoccurring history of America’s criminal justice system resenting rappers, who are mostly Black people, is a reflection of the cruel history of the relationship between the American government and the Black community.
Black history in the United States is well known to be connected with violent, unfair, and biased treatment against people of color. Slavery, segregation, and a broken economic infrastructure including the prison system all aided in the prevention of Black progression.
People of color were denied civil rights and liberties. Black people were socially discriminated against, and struggled to advance financially.
If Black people didn’t suffer from those living conditions, there wouldn’t be a need to listen to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” Unfortunately, POC did suffer, but they took the struggle and expressed it through sound. As a result, the birth of Hip-Hop.
In the late ’70s, during the genesis of the genre, artist mostly used music as a rhythmic way to not only entertain and uplift people, but also a way to lyrically protest the problematic issues plaguing low-income Black communities.
After the civil rights movement, Hip-Hop stood as a united voice for issues like poverty, racism, inequality, criminal justice, police brutality, and anything else that oppressed Black communities.
While Black artist non-violently protested with lyrics, the American government developed its prison industrial complex. The prison system is an industrial sector, just as slavery was considered an agriculture and labor business.
The evolution of Hip-Hop happened simultaneous to the mass incarceration of people of color in America’s prison system. Is the parallel of this phenomena coincidental or is it systematic? We’re not here to determine that, but let me leave you with some facts.
According to a 2012 report from the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been at least 1276 executions in the United States since 1976. There are approximately 3,251 inmates on death row and Blacks represent 42% of these inmates (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011). This statistic is quite disproportional because African-Americans only represented 9.7 percent of the population back then.
So again, is this systematic or coincidental? Is the unpopular opinion true about rappers being targets by America’s criminal justice system? We are uncertain in every case, but if rappers are not targeted, many make themselves easy to become targets.
Many artist deviated from reciting the same unhealed stories of civil struggles. They became more aggressive with their approach, and the music went from peaceful to painful.
The emergence of rap music gradually made Hip-Hop more dangerous. The kumbaya rap era ended, and transitioned to “Wa da da dang Wa da da da dang (Ay!) Listen to my 9 millimeter go bang!”
Sadly, this created a new parallel.
The increase of violent music, increased Hip-Hop’s popularity. Rappers became cultural icons and their unruly substance made everybody want to listen to rap. In 2017, Hip-Hop officially became America’s number one music genre, and all eyes were on the culture. This put the culture under a microscope, or better yet, put the culture on social media.
Artists should be able to utilize technology and use social media as a promotional tool. Instead we’ve seen more then a few rappers expose and document their alleged involvement in criminal activity online.
Tekashi 69 YNW Melly
The culture began to see more glorification of street life, rising criminal activity and dismissive attitudes towards the law. New-aged rappers seemingly love to display their rebellious behavior. Coincidentally, the feds love it too. It makes their job easier.
The Hip-Hop community fed up with the Hip-Hop police and blatant discrimination that rappers receive from the criminal justice system decided to take action.
In an effort to protect the artistic liberty of rappers, Jay-Z teamed up with other powerful leaders in Hip-Hop to push “Rap Music on Trial” (S.7527/A.8681)
“Rap Music on Trial” is a proposal of a new law in New York that will prevent the usages of lyrics on trial. The bill was written by Democratic Senator Brad Hoylman, Jamaal Bailey, and Catalina Cruz.
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro and University of Richmond Professor Erik Nielson co-wrote a letter to New York lawmakers in favor of the approval of this bill.
Hov along with superstars such as Meek Mill, Big Sean, Fat Joe, Kelly Rowland, Yo Gotti, Killer Mike, Robin Thicke, and more have all petitioned the letter.
New York rapper, Fat Joe said he is passionate about change and desires Hip-Hop to be treated fairly in the future.
“Our lyrics are a creative form of self-expression and entertainment – just like any other genre,” Fat Joe told Rolling Stone. “We want our words to be recognized as art rather than being weaponized to get convictions in court. I hope the governor and all the lawmakers in New York take our letter into consideration, protect our artistic rights and make the right decision to pass this bill.”
In 2017, the late South Central rapper, Drakeo the Ruler served three years in Los Angeles County Jail after the content of his songs and videos were used to prosecute him.
Drakeo the Ruler
“They rap about their crimes,” said the prosecutor Shannon Cooley. Detective Hardiman agreed and told the court he used “the greatest crime-fighting tools on earth – Google and social media.”
Hardiman cited Drakeo’s lyrics where he allegedly spoke about driving around with a rival rapper “tied up in the back”.
The judge indicted Drakeo on multiple felonies. Charges included murder, conspiracy murder, criminal gang conspiracy, shooting from a vehicle, illegal possession of a firearm and a number of other charges. He faced a life sentence.
In 2020, Drakeo accepted a plea deal that helped acquit his murder charges. His lawyer, John Hamasaki spoke on the judges initial decision to prosecute his client.
“It really makes no sense, logically, from a criminal justice perspective,” Hamasaki said. “Their main crime was making music, videos, and raps. And those raps were offensive to the [lead] detective.”
Erik Nielson, is the co-author of a book on discrimination in Hip-Hop, Rap On Trial; Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America. Nielson said he’s identified more than 500 total cases since 1991 in which rap has been used as evidence.
“Police rely on rappers’ music because it’s easy to watch YouTube videos and it’s often effective,” Nielson shared. “You don’t have to do police work, and you get convictions. It makes it very easy to pin crimes on people who were not involved.”
Hip-Hop is aware of this biased behavior by America’s criminal justice system, and it’s taking steps towards changing it. In no way should your bars lead you to a life behind them.
