Chuck D and Kurtis Blow’s Hip-Hop Alliance Launches New Effort with SAG-AFTRA to Educate Policymakers, Artists, and the Media on Inequities in Music Business

LOS ANGELES — SAG-AFTRA and the Hip Hop Alliance, an affiliate of the United Coalition for Humanity, have joined together to build a better future for hip hop artists, and the entire music industry.

Congress voted to approve and declare November National Hip-Hop History Month via Resolution 331 in August 2021. The month-long celebration highlighted the enormous influence the hip hop genre, started more than 50 years ago, has had on our culture. SAG-AFTRA and the Hip Hop Alliance will work together to educate artists, lawmakers, and the media about the challenges that record labels and studios create for creators. This includes:

• Engaging with the hip-hop and R&B community to promote fair wages, fair royalties and strong health and retirement benefits for artists.
• Empowering artists through education and outreach about their agreements with labels, producers, agents and managers.
• Educating recording artists about SAG-AFTRA and the union’s role in protecting artists.
• Empowering artists and protecting their livelihoods and futures through legislation and policy change.

“Hip-hop is and has long been a major force in American culture,“ said SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “We are thrilled to partner with the Hip Hop Alliance and to work jointly to create a more equitable music ecosystem. Together, we will protect and empower artists through collaborative educational efforts and collective legislative actions, like the FAIR Act, that will put an end to artists being trapped in record deals for far too long.”

“Hip-hop culture is the hottest scene in society today,” said hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow. “Everyone around the globe is tuning in to listen to what hip-hop has to say. We truly live in a hip-hop generation. Rap music is the No. 1 streamed music on the planet. The agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the Hip Hop Alliance will bring many benefit options to the culture in the near future. Caring for people will save lives like SAG-AFTRA did for me!”

The Hip Hop Alliance is comprised of:

Board of Directors

• Bishop Cathaye Jones - Executive Director
• Bob Lee - Founder / Chairman Emeritus
• Chuck D - Founder / President
• Kurtis Blow -  Founder / Vice President
• Jameson Bennett - Founder / Secretary
• Nadia Young - Legal
• Janice Pendarvis

Advisory Board

• Alonzo E Williams
• Billboard Baby
• Darryll (DLB - Fearless 4) Barksdale
• DJ Hollywood
• William (Grandmaster D) Carter
• Kalil Lundy - Force Mds
• Stevie D Lundy - Force Mds
• Mandy (Slick Rick Prod.) Aragones
• Melvin Kelly
• Dr. Pebbles (Pebblee Poo) Riley
• Kurtis Walker Jr

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.