The Congressional Black Congress (CBC) hosted a week full of events celebrating with galas, lunches, and panels galore, but there was one event that combined hip-hop, one of the most celebrated genres of music today, and politics – the first annual Hip-Politics Awards. The event was held at the @1015 Lounge, which featured an array of honorees and guests who included Brad “Scarface” Jordan, rapper Trae the Truth, New York Congressman, Hakeem Jefferies, Michigan House Representative, Sheldon Neely, and The Source founder, Dave Mays. 

Brad ” Scarface” Jordan

With the political season around the corner, Brad “Scarface” Jordan, the former member of the legendary hip-hop group, The Geto Boys, has thrown his bid in for Houston City Council. The news broke after the current seat holder, Dwight Boykins, decided to run for mayor. When asked about his bid for city council, Jordan stated: “It’s not about what he gave me, it’s about what I took from him. What I took from Boykins was that he wanted me to explore running for mayor. Me on the other hand, having no political background, I have a passion for my people. With that said, it made me want to step up and run for the city council. I was supposed to be prepping for 3-4 years but now I am in the fire. Win, lose, or draw, I hope it will inspire other candidates like me to take control of the narrative. Let’s be real with ourselves, we have not been in a position to take care of our brothers and sisters. I am here to change that, it’s our turn.”

Houston native rapper, Trae the Truth, let it be known he was appreciative of being an honoree at the Hip-Politics Awards explaining, “It’s a blessing because  I get to create more of a legacy, you know? It’s nice to know people stand with me and behind me, showing what we can become.”  He added, “There’s a lot of people that need it, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that you can assist people and help them to not give up and not tap out. Everybody needs encouragement, I needed it when I came on,” said The Truth explaining the reason for his philanthropy work within his community. He also spoke about building the community up like the late and talented rapper Nipsy Hussle.

Trae the Truth’s new album, “Exhale,” released on August 23, 2019 and he expressed the purpose of his new album is “clearly the truth, I mean that’s what my name says. Life is important and that’s what I am trying to promote right now.” 

House Representative and Green Justice award honoree, Sheldon Neely, and his wife, Cynthia, were delighted to be in attendance at the first annual event and expressed pride in what they were witnessing at awards. Neely stated, “I am grateful to be selected as one of the honorees tonight, especially being a representative from Flint (Michigan). Three things come to my mind. Number 1, I am very grateful; Number 2, I am very proud of the positivity that I see here tonight and; Number 3, I want to congratulate all these young people. It’s very refreshing to see the amount of African-Americans in a professional setting, it just brings life to all that I’ve been fighting for and standing for. I’m really rejuvenated by this atmosphere.” He then stated “I think people need to be aware of what’s going on with our African-American youth and millennials, I would hope that we can draw more young people into this type of atmosphere and they can actually see.”

House Representative Sheldon Neely and wife Cynthia Neely.

Known for quoting rappers during his speeches on the house floor, Congressman Hakeem Jefferies responded positively to his selection as an honoree saying  “It’s a tremendous honor, Hip-Politics is a wonderful organization that combines millennial political empowerment and hip hop culture. I look forward to being supportive of it in any way that I can. We want to make sure that we continue to promote the music, the culture and the social justice responsibility that we all have during these complicated and challenging times.”

Jeffries noted that his two favorite rappers are Biggie and Tupac, but he claimed Jay-Z as his selection for a living legend.

Founder of the Source magazine and Source Awards, Dave Mays, enjoyed his experience at the awards. He explained his support for Hip-Politics, saying “I recently created Dave Mays Media, I got to meet Cameron (one of the founders of Hip-Politics) at a Hip-Hop Museum pop up that I put together. He explained what they were doing with Hip Politics and ever since that moment, I have tried to come out and support the organization. That is why I am here tonght.”  

Hip-Politics podcast co-host, Mike McQuerry, was proud of the success of the organization. McQuerry talked about the origin of Hip-Politics stating, “We try to fuse Hip-Hop and politics together. Cameron is more of the hip-hop one and I am more of the political one since I work on Capitol Hill. I have been working on the Hill for 24 years. Hip Hop and policy are easy to combine together since a lot of the rep content out there now reloves around politics.” 

Congressman Hakeem Jefferies holding the Hip-Politics Award.

Hip-Politics Founder/Executive Director, Cameron Trimble, was very happy with the turn out of the event.  He annotated that “the hip-hop generation is strong. To see the turnout, to feel the energy in the room, to see some of our legends come out, this event shows that hip-hop has the power to effect change. Hip-hop has the power to mobilize millions of people across racial and socioeconomic demographics around the country. This is what I like to call the Superbowl of Black Politics. Putting on this event was a blessing and it’s only going to get bigger!”