Transforming Our
Cultural Influence
Into Policy & Power A Call To Action for the Hip-Hop Community DONATE NOW HIP-HOP &
POLITICS Hip-Hop has a longstanding tradition of fighting
back against racial and economic inequality. DONATE NOW
American society embraces hip-hop as a mainstream cultural and multi-billion dollar economic force, but our political leadership fails to ensure a public policy agenda that recognizes our humanity and full citizenship.

OUR PURPOSE

The Hip-Hop Political Education Summit is a catalyst for dialogue and action. We connect Hip-Hop’s leading innovators with experts in their respective fields—gender, technology, health, politics, business, etc.

OUR FOUNDING

Founded in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that reached over 2000 cities, the seeds for the Hip-Hop Political Education Summit were planted by the hip-hop community’s long-standing tradition of fighting back against racial and economic inequality.

OUR MISSION

The Hip-Hop Political Education Summit seeks to provide life-saving information to the hip-hop community, preparing each citizen for their role in transforming policy and building political power.

OUR VISION

We believe that political education is the important first step in reconciling the disparity between Hip-Hop’s enormous influence as a culture and the lack of leadership and policies that meaningfully impact our lives and our communities.

CO-FOUNDERS

The Hip-Hop Political Education Summit brings decades of experience at the intersection of hip-hop and politics through its founders—Dave Mays, the creator of The Source magazine, The Source Awards and co-founder of The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network; and Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, founder of Rap Sessions: Community Dialogues on Hip-Hop, and author of the bestselling book The Hip-Hop Generation.

DAVE MAYS

BAKARI KITWANA

Does Your Vote Really Count?

This song by Yello Pain, a 25-year-old artist from Dayton, OH, runs through all the reasons many skeptics in the hip-hop community think your vote doesn’t count—then he breaks down why it does.

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