Using the "Hip Hop Culture" to install Hope in Youth

Andre is a young, smart, dynamic, enthusiastic and spontaneous young man. He is “full of life” and focused on making a change in his community and the people he comes in contact with. His passion is to help people, and he is doing so by using his talents (gifts). His talents are rapping, making music and performance art. His passion is what drives him, the passion to perform inform in front of a crowed does him justice, he loves to entertain people,  and in doing so encouraging them in a positive way. Hip Hop is a major influential factor in his life; he has grown up listening to Hip Hop. It started out with him being influenced by the negative elements of hip hop but he no longer is.

He is now a born again Christian, and he is as said in his own words, and I quote “unashamed of the gospel” and he’s using his art and craft to spread the word and love of the God. “I will go to the wildest places in the world, to share the love of God”. He said: “Art is a universal language, it speaks to everybody, no matter who you are, and where you come from, it speaks to you. Everybody watches TV, and listens to music, so they can relate to it. God has given me a word “Disciples of the nation”, and at the moment I am involved in an organisation. I am reaching out to people, mainly the poor communities and I am trying to get them off the streets. There is a few of them that’s actually talented dances and they are very good performers, and I want to utilize that so that they can become successful. I want to encourage them to use their gifts, to create job opportunities for themselves. Everybody goes through struggles and bad times, and I want to show them that there is hope through art and my journey. I want to show people that you can rap and not swear and still have a positive impact, because at the end of the day it is still a funky beat that would get people moving, but positive words are being preached and proclaimed.

I am a Zafe’ and I want to encourage my fellow Zafes (peers) to work on something whether it be dance, or any form of art even if it’s not art but a skill, and take that skill or art and find a venue and have everybody come together and use all your skills or art to create a free workshop for everybody to learn. God Bless.”