(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, March 16, 2013 ) New York, NY -- In New York City, some youth may be given a truly special chance to study hip-hop in Barcelona, Spain, as well as New Orleans Louisiana. The opportunity will be given to youth in the growing a specific East Village-based travel non-profit organization.
The Hip Hop Re: Education Project was founded over a half-decade ago and has been sending youth to Berlin, Germany since 2010. The initiative is called Travel Agency of Change, and the program is attempting to raise $12,000 to fund the trips to Barcelona and New Orleans within the next year. The program is currently utilizing the work of a website titled Indiegogo for fundraiser efforts. The efforts will end on March 20. As of March 7, the fundraiser had only reached a quarter of its goal.
The opportunities to travel are open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 24 who preside in the five boroughs. Fabian Saucedo, “Farbeon”, is the founder of the project, and stated that many of the individuals are not employed or attending school, which is why the program provides such an important opportunity.
“They are marginalized and, for whatever reason, traditional institutions aren’t reaching them,” he said.
Saucedo said hip-hop has the potential to become a binding force for disadvantaged children.
“Hip-hop has been given a bad rep because it has been co-opted by media and record labels to sell products,” he explained. “We want to get back to the roots of hip-hop as a community-building force. It was originally used to fight drugs and violence, not to promote them.”
Those within the project see the opportunity for the students to be eye-opening as well as a promising step in the right direction. According to Billy Clark, who head the international program of CultureHub, the experience is more than simply one in Hip Hop.
“The main goal is to use hip-hop as a vehicle for cultural understanding and to empower young people through arts cross-pollinating with culture,” Clark said.
While Hip-Hop is not necessarily associated with the American Hip-Hop movement, Saucedo stated that the culture of the art flourishes in many urbanized European cities.
“People used to say other countries are copying what America was doing by adopting hip-hop culture, and maybe in the ’80s that was true,” said Saucedo. “But currently, young German rappers are listening to German pioneers. Now we’re being inspired by German and Spanish rap.”
About Beats Planet: Beats Planet (http://beatsplanet.com/rap-beats.html) provides visitors with the best in hip-hop beats sure to keep the body bumping. Find the beats you need to push your mixes to a higher flow. Visit the website for rap beats and to buy beats.
