their were times when he had to tell some of the hip-hop veterans that choice of beats and rhythms may not coincide with the styles the young adults were more accustomed towards.

“There were artists who felt they would like to contribute their styles, but after I told them that some of their beats had to sound like what the kids are used to hearing on the radio, they decided not to be a part of it.”.

The CD has 28 tracks comprising of both young adults and hip-hop veterans in the D.C. area, totaling 26 rappers and/or groups. This also includes CD cover artists who are also graffiti artists as well as young budding entrepreneurs, who Midnight Forum Inc. trained to create business plans. The entrepreneurs are the young adults who have an inspired interest in becoming hip-hop megastar artists such as Wu-Tang, Snopp Dawg and Jay-Z who have their own clothing line, record labels, PlayStation games and production companies. It was this group of Midnight Forum protégés that assisted greatly in the distribution and production of the CD, as well as the press releases and photographs.

As for the CD, there were some tracks that happily found their way in the REPEAT MODE on the CD player. Nate/Nice is one of the six students of Midnight Forum Inc. on the CD. His voice is distinctive in it’s syncopation as is his reality. His description about what makes him write is a testament to a generation hyper-sensitive to their surroundings. It will not be long before his skills are more developed to the levels of the giants whose shoulders he is clearly standing on at this present time.

The untitled track from Raheem Davaughn is a rare find of harmonic Neo-Soul and hip-hop, with some post-Motown Marvin Gaye thrown in the pot liquor for flavoring. His frustration of the apathy in his community is heard in his choice of rhythm and lyrics. He cajoles the listener do his or her part toward improving the community they live in, as opposed to waiting for someone else to do it for them. It is a message as haunting as his chorus.

Poem-Cees and Grap Luva reminded me what I thought hip-hop had long forgot–ingenuity. The on-beat rapping coinciding with a careful cocktail of old school/new school beats. The sweet Wes Montgomery-like electric guitar, looped up and over the heavy-headed beat like a schoolgirl skipping alongside her father was exquisite. And excuse me but, was that some Terminator X/Public Enemy sampling I heard thrown in to take back wit-choo?? In all this I got the motivation to strive for what is best in you, for you.

As diverse is the CD, its main theme was a collective work of positive progression without the milky played message-thrown-in-your-face vibe that some CD for youth, by youth tend to have. This was no Steven Spielberg-like production, where we are spoon-fed how they want us to feel for two and a half hours. Midnight Forum Incorporated relies on making the listener feel just how they started out some 15 years ago—taking what little you have and expanding it into a powerful inspirational source.

-By Preston Arnold

After an interview with Executive Producer Dominic “DJ TRU” Painter of Midnight Forum Incorporated (Inc.), you come away thinking that talent in one artistic form is inspiration for untapped talents in non-artistic forms. He believes that a self-taught series of graffiti art, drumbeat, keyboard, vocal, rapping or record spinning maneuvers, is a launching pad toward radio programming, writing, art design and entrepreneurship. “It’s a matter of teaching these kids that you can take something from nothing and make something out of it. You don’t have to be stuck doing one thing you’re good at. You can take that one thing and make a career in many things.”

Painter, 27, works tightly with Midnight Forum; a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization which guides D.C. area youth in the dynamics and history of Hip-Hop culture. Their home base is at the Stead Recreational Center on 16^th and P Street N.W. where they met every Wednesday and every other Saturday (202) 287-1695. He brings with him almost ten years working in the local D.C. music scene, spinning records, producing and writing. With the help of 12 trainers rooted in years-long knowledge of rapping, mixing and graffiti art, they teach young adults ages 14 to 22 the fundamentals of hip-hop culture and the skills the young adults taught themselves to master in their apartments and basements. Painter and several others demonstrate to their young protégés the background of an art form they only see as strictly entertainment.

“We teach them about the culture behind what they know, “ says Painter. “We teach them that before Ludicrous, Jay-Z, and the other hip-hop artists they hear everyday on the radio, hip-hop was a movement that spoke on the realities of black culture. We demonstrate what graffiti art and rapping truly means. That it is not just something that looks good and has a good beat, but that it is an art form giving voice to something often ignored.”

Painter added that Midnight Forum Inc. demonstrates to its young cliental that the skills learned in those apartments and basements can develop into other skills. For example, a young adult who is a talented graffiti artist, could learn to become an art designer, or a DJ could work in many faucets of radio programming, or a rapper could write copy for press releases for Midnight Forum Inc. Currently, the organization is scheduled to create a mural in Mount Pleasant along with the support of community organizations Youth Action Research Group and MANNA-a housing development corporation for low-income housing. Both groups will work together along with Mount Pleasant/Main Street Board of Directors. Painter says the purpose of this project is to challenge people’s perception on

graffiti. “We will take our artists and begin a dialogue of what graffiti is, and the art it truly is as opposed to thinking graffiti is strictly a gang thing.”

The history of Midnight Forum Inc. is a plethora of steps toward the development of who they are as an organization to be reckoned with by all. They have no doubt paid their dues and have been monetarily awarded greatly for their efforts.

The list of props goes on: Exxon-Mobile Foundation; The D.C. Mayor’s Summer Youth Program, the National Endowment for the Arts/D.C. Arts and Humanity, the D.C. Rotary Foundation, D.C. Metro Youth Program Foundation; George Mason University; Rawkus Records; D.C. Children & Youth Investment Corporation; the D.C. Department of Recreation; Latin American Youth Center; Metro Teen AIDS: And all started in 1989 when Founder and then Executive Director Daniel Berry (a.k.a. Dino) fell in love with De La Soul’s album 3 Feet High and Rising. Hence, a perfect example of how the love of one thing could morph into an unimaginable dream.

Throughout the 1990s, Midnight Forum Incorporated marched through each doorway opened to them. Mr. Berry first presented his vision through Chicago public access television which showed the public the power and creativity of hip-hop culture. After a proposal was submitted to the Echoing Green Fellowship Committee, there were meetings with community advisors as well as non-profit and youth leaders in the Washington, D.C. area. In 2000, Midnight Forum In. secured a fiscal agent with Metro Teen AIDS and finds a home in Cesar Chavez Public Charter School and Jason Shiggs Home. Later that spring, the first workshops are done at the Howard University Hip-Hop Festival and Millers Run recreational Center in Arlington, Virginia. In 2003, with the help of a grant from the D.C. Arts and Humanity and the D.C. Rotary Club, full production of their CD Midnight Forum Inc. Mix CD Vol. One begins.

Despite the expected drama of artistic egos from both the hip-hop veterans and the young adults, a CD was created with such local artists as Raheem Devaughn, Poem-Cees, Lee Majors, Black Child and Nate/Nice. Painter says that