Page 0: Page 1: American and Canadian heavyweights get together to discuss “Getting Your Money Right” Hip-hop Summit Action Network Conference 2006 longtime Jane and Finch community pillar Winston LaRose, SHARE newspaper columnist and urban activist Murphy Browne, and former politician and current Canadian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Alvin Curling. Even mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield—with her campaign team in tow—expressed her anticipation for the event to Swagg News and mingled with the crowd and conference officials. Moderators Dr. Muhammad and Lyte lobbed general financial questions to the panelists, who offered personal nuggets of advice regarding their experiences getting their own finances in order. They did an admirable job keeping the audience and panelists involved throughout the conference. The message? Financial empowerment: getting your money right. While the discussion was not particularly detailed, both the moderators and the audience made good use of financial advisor and Chrysler Financial Senior Manager Rodolfo Dominguez. In fact, Dominguez had more mic time than Russell Simmons himself. Remy Ma recounted her first paycheck at age 17 that totaled $60,000. Her accountant advised her that she would have to pay taxes of $12,000 leaving her with $48,000. “Didn’t they already pay that to the government?” she asked, prompting an audience and panelist laugh-in. “I just didn’t The city of Toronto played host to the first international Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) conference on October 28, 2006 at the Ryerson University Theatre. The one-day event featured a discussion panel of hip-hop luminaries including icons Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. Crowds for the event could be seen lining up as early as 7A.M. according to officials. Sponsored primarily by Chrysler Financial, the event’s admission was free and attendees were provided with a financial workbook explaining the basics of good credit, saving, and general wealth building. “Hip-hop is a blessing from God,” stated Dr. Muhammad, President, CEO and Co-Chair of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. Along with Russell Simmons, Dr. Muhammad helped found the HSAN in 2001 as a not-for-profit organization created to increase public awareness of the positive contributions that hip-hop music has made, as well as to educate the hip-hop generation on issues related to wealth, literacy, reading, and youth leadership development. The Financial Empowerment Tour was established to educate people on the importance of financial literacy, ultimately to help the youth overcome spiraling debt, bad credit and financial mismanagement that plague our communities. Many local leaders were present including understand.” She noted that as her amounts increased, her bills increased proportionally, forcing her to keep tabs on money coming in and out. Lil’ Mo quickly reminded the audience that the material images portrayed in many music videos are just that—images. “As soon as the camera stops rolling, all that stuff has to get sent back,” she said. Lil’ X elaborated further, explaining that the realities of lower profit margins and higher expenditures have forced the industry to reexamine where and how much they allocate to music video budgets. He also revealed he uses the Book of Proverbs to help him keep grounded and aware of the eternally simple parables of building wealth, even reciting several verses to the delight of the crowd. Irked by some heckling towards FLOW and rapper Kardinal Offishall later on, he defended both to applause from the crowd. “We have to respect what we got,” he said in a rebuking tone. While the financial empowerment theme was important, the first hip-hop summit to hit Toronto could have included in-depth, harder pressing issues such as the unprecedented violence in the Year of the Gun, which saw 78 homicides (52 of them involved firearms, almost doubling the amount in 2004 where there were 27). 10 Canada’s #1 Urban Newsmag FIVE Page 2: “The violence stemmed from a small group of kids,” stated music video producer Lil’ X. “We need to deal with it here. This is the time and place to get their money together.” “It depends on how you look at it,” added Toronto-based rapper Kardinal Offishall, one of the panelists at the summit. “Financial barriers were put up, which resulted in frustration from the community.” He also said that the root of the violence stemmed from money, and young blacks in Toronto need economic empowerment. Heckling moments aside, the audience was generally well behaved. According to Simmons, through 60 HSAN events, they have not had any incidents. This was a session for the youth to hear the message from a different, fun perspective. A healthy participation from the Canadian contingent on the panel was apparent with the audience responding in kind with inquisitive questions in the following question and answer segment. It was clear from non-scientific polling and observations after the event, that the general message conveyed will evaporate quickly without continual parental reinforcement. As well, the summit’s general and vague message left many wanting more detailed information. At one point, attendees of the morning session were quick to tell the line-up of people waiting to get in for the afternoon session not to waste their time. A magazine promoter who missed the How Can I Be Down conference saw the Get Your Money Right title and thought that maybe she could learn something. Local artists Juggernaught and Jeleestone came because they make music. F.Rogz, also local, saw it more as a photo-op and star gazing extravaganza rather than an empowering summit. He had the feeling that they came here not guaranteeing anybody learned anything. It also wasn’t what Tara Hunter from Toronto expected either. “It should have focused more on what the youth need to know about the content in that booklet,” she says, while conceding the panel did have good intentions. However, when it came to youth employment, stressing the importance of finance, having a job, and saving to enable them to get out of debt, Hunter felt that it was overlooked. “I thought that we would learn more than what the streets offer,” says Kim Foster, who also attended the summit. “They didn’t come by with the industry knowledge.” She felt that the questions should have been directed more towards Canadians on the panel. “Russell Simmons can’t tell me about Toronto because he’s not from here!” she says. However, there were many people who were inspired by the hip-hop summit, including Nicole Coleman and Nadine Robinson—business partners who took something positive from the event. In Coleman’s view, the panelists “really were trying to show [us] that you can’t start anything until you get your mind right. [The summit] showed us we’re on the right track.” For the two entrepreneurs, the event and its panelists, particularly Remy Ma, reinforced the idea that individuals need to take control over their own destiny. Remy Ma’s advice specifically pointed to ownership of one’s material and the importance of laying down a foundation for the future. Ultimately, HSAN 2006 was a conference that faithfully stuck to its pre-stated topic, rarely straying off the financial path. It was an intentionally no-frills event lacking in detailed information but leveraging star power and their experiences to reach urban youth in a direct way that still befuddles many mainstream corporations. At the end of the day, HSAN 2006 gave the people a little of what they need. It’s one thing for your parents to say “Pay your bills,” but it can be quite another for Chris Brown, Russell Simmons or MC Lyte to say the same thing. The HSAN 2006 Get Your Money Right Workbook can be obtained by visiting www.hsan.org. reporting by Kenai Andrews and Jordan MacNevin That page Clockwise: MC Lyte, Chris Brown, Remyma, Lil’ Mo. Lil’ X. Kardinal Offishal. Matte Babel. This Page Clockwise: Russell Simmons. HiTek. MC Lyte. Ben Chavis. lil’ Mo. Saukrates. Canada’s #1 Urban Newsmag FIVE 11 Page 3: