At this open mic night in Philadelphia, encouraging and empowering messages get a platform
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The nonprofit Mothers In Charge called all rappers, singers and poets to the mic for a Wednesday night cypher. Of course, these artists wanted to deliver their dopest bars, but the rhymes come with rules.
If you listen closely to the words these artists are rapping, it's no surprise you'll hear a common theme: murder.
But unlike much of the rap music today, which glorifies violence, these artists' messages are against it.
"There's no violence, there's no cursing, they're promoting positive messages," founder Dr. Dorothy Johnson-Speight said. "Safe messages, encouraging messages, empowering messages."
Everyone in this healing circle has been impacted by gun violence in some way, including Sajda Blackwell, co-founder of the Blackwell Cultural Alliance, a nonprofit that partnered with Mothers In Charge to host this monthly open mic event.
"My husband and I lost three sons last year in 2023," Blackwell said. "They were murdered, my sons were murdered."
Blackwell challenged Philadelphia's creatives of all ages to face off for a $1,000 cash prize by channeling their grief into supreme lyricism.
"We are plant forms we are platforms, foundations we are motherboards," North Philly Peace Park Poet Illz Willz said.
READ MORE: How Mothers in Charge supports parents and children affected by gun violence
Johnson-Speight is hopeful the message in the music will change the narrative in the streets.
"We know that so many of our young people are hearing music that is driving oftentimes their behavior," she said. "We believe that if we give young people an alternative, sometimes they'll buy into that."
