You’ve heard the saying “put your money where your mouth is.” Twelve men in Kansas City are taking that statement and running with it.
“Even though we're individual artists, we all decided to bring our talents and gifts together to spark change in the city,” said Brandon "B-Shock" Shockley.
It’s not every day you can link hip-hop to charity, but the rappers are making sure every one of their words count toward a good cause.
They joined forces to create the “KC Higher Art Cypher,” a positive music video that not only aims to uplift Kansas City but will also help raise money for a local organization.
“We just came to the agreement, 'Hey, let's take the proceeds and make it count,'” said Royce "Sauce Remix" Handy. “Let's not just rap about it, but let's actually be about it.”
Every time someone purchases the song, all of the proceeds will go to the Nile Valley Aquaponics project.
According to its website, Nile Valley Aquaponics works with boys from Kansas City to “produce 70,000 pounds of chemical-free vegetables and 30,000 pounds of naturally fed Tilapia in green houses.” The food will be part of a Farmer’s Market near 29th and Wabash. You can learn more about it on our website.
“We wanted to show Kansas City unity amongst us first and show the city that we do have artists that care about the state of hip-hop, that care about the messages that we're giving out, that care about the community,” Handy said.
The men who joined the KC Higher Art Cypher garnered 100,000 views and 6,000 shares on Facebook in just four days. It’s a response none of them expected.
“It dropped at noon on Friday,” said Cole DeRuse. “I had a concert that day, checked it that evening and it said 2,500 shares or so. We weren't expecting that many shares.”
The song can be purchased on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. You can also stream it on Tidal and Spotify.
Check out the full video below:
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