Source: handout / City of Newark
The city of Newark, New Jersey will be honoring Hip-Hop through its annual 24-hour event designed to help the community celebrate peace in the streets.
On Monday (August 28th), the office of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced the 24 Hours of Peace Event which will take place beginning on Friday (September 1) at 5 P.M., and last until 5 P.M. on Saturday (September 2). The festivities will take place on Springfield Avenue between Bergen and Blum Streets. The event will feature performances by headline Hip-Hop icons Ghostface Killah, Redman, AZ, Milk Dee of Audio Two, and Hakim Green of Channel Live (who is also a co-founder of 24 Hours of Peace).
Other artists slated to perform at the event will be R&B stalwarts Lil Mo and Bobby V along with Pleasure P. They will be joined by a bevy of local artists who will perform throughout the 24 hours of the festivities as well as DD Osama, 2KBaby, and DJ Middy Baraka. There will also be a midnight tribute to the life of O’Shae Sibley, the Alvin Ailey-trained dancer who was killed last month in Brooklyn. That will be orchestrated by Newark native and WBLS DJ Antoine Qua, featuring a house music dance performance hosted by Ms. Theresa.
The 24 Hours of Peace event began eleven years ago when Mayor Baraka was representing the South Ward as a council member, and he made it a citywide event once he became mayor. “Perhaps more than any other annual event in Newark, our 24 Hrs of Peace celebration embodies the true spirit of a city where we solidify our unity and deepen our commitment to each other every day,” said Mayor Baraka in the release. “Twenty-four hours without violence is the norm in our city now – not the exception. Each year, this event fuses the power of hip-hop music and spoken word to lift, heal, and inspire peace in our city. We continue to confront a culture that tells us it’s okay to harm one another.
The event will also feature over 200 retail and food vendors, a forum dedicated to Hip-Hop and mental health as well as yoga classes and a Hip-Hop Fitness class led by Nikki D along with poetry performances and a midnight movie screening. For more information, those interested are invited to go to the city’s website.
