If you live in St. Louis, you know that the condition of this community’s youth is dire, and violence is a major part of it, whether victimizer or victim. Dynasty Hip-Hop Inc. Mentoring Program stands as a resource and a solution to this problem.
“I use to love beef, love drama, loving the fighting, and just the culture of it, whatever’s on these streets,” said Curtis “Roy C” Royston IV, a 23-year-old father and Walnut Park resident.
That was before he met James W. Muhammad, co-founder of Dynasty Hip-Hop Inc. Mentoring Program.
“Mr. Muhammad and Dynasty showed me how the cycle of what I was doing, acting and the music that I was doing was all destructive, and if I continued how I wouldn’t be here to raise my 3-year-old son,” continued Royston.
For the last six years Dynasty has been engaging youth ages 13-24, with a culture they understand, hip-hop. They provide youth with free studio time, airplay and access to the hip-hop and entertainment industry.
Most recently they started the “Getting Youth off the Streets with Hip-Hop Campaign” where they are touring the St. Louis area, getting youth to pledge “I will not engage in violence, I accept the responsibility to build my community, ” while doing ongoing mentoring on how to facilitate the oath they have taking.
“It is quite simply the words and inspiration from the Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan, who has asked us to engage our neighborhoods and ask them to accept the responsibility to build our community,” Muhammad said.
“Looking at all the recent violence and murder we have seen affecting every part of our city, we started demanding that the youth in every school we are in, or just visit, every neighborhood that we go to, give their word, a pledge, a oath that they will do what it takes not destroy our community.”
Many would say that hip-hop is part of the problem, that it can’t help, that these young people need to be focusing on becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers. Dynasty member, Fredrick Robinson, age 20, said the focus is to make youth positive, and you can’t make it to be a doctor or a lawyer if you are dead.
“Before Dynasty I was in all kind of trouble,” Robinson said. “I would be strung out on drugs, in jail or dead if the program had not gave me a outlet to get out the streets, a positive place to come to. I was in these streets because I had nothing to do with my time, no job, just bored, so I would get into stuff.”
Robinson said he began some job opportunities from Dynasty. Royston said the same. “This program has brought me job opportunities that helped me feed my son,” he said.
Youth have already taken the pledge to stop violence at Northwest High School, Yeatman Middle, Judge Jimmie Edwards’ Innovative Concept Academy, and even Ladue High School, to name a few.
“These children want change,” said Carmelita Henderson, a 26-year-old North St. Louis resident, whose little sister is a part of Dynasty.
“Our neighborhoods have become so violent we barely go outside. They want to change that. I believe that these youth in Dynasty will change this city.”
Dynasty can be reached at 314-243-4722 or www.dynastyhiphop.org.
