The Leon County Commission has voted unanimously to spend $25,000 to sponsor an event called the “50 Years of Hip Hop Celebration Concert.” One of the event’s main attractions is T-Pain, who grew up on the south side of Tallahassee and became an enormous star.
The event will also feature the national artists Doug E. Fresh and MC Lyte. The winners of a rap contest promoting a stop to gun violence will also appear.
The sponsorship request came from the North Florida Community Development Corporation, whose organizers told the commission that previous sponsorship commitments have not been received yet.
One of the artists, T-Pain, is from Tallahassee’s Ridge Road and is asking only for travel costs. Here’s Darius “Doc D” Baker, who’s producing the concert:
“I think if we gave him the opportunity, I could just see commissioners walking with him down Ridge Road, where he grew up, where he had to walk past the bus and gunfire – all types of stuff that he’s faced, and he still made it," Baker said. "Went to Rickards. He’s from our city, our county.”
Baker added that the concert has the potential to reach young people.
“I’m a part of this because I believe in it, and I know the problems that we face – and we’re facing – with our youth. When you look at Faheem, that’s his real name, T-Pain, who has sold 15 million albums and 50 million downstreams, I think that we should allow him to actually feed into our youth. They look up to him.”
The concert will be held at Anita Favors Plaza at Lake Anita on November 10th. That’s the same night as a “Frenchtown Rising” event, which the commission is also helping to sponsor.
