THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS O U T & A B
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May 5, 2022 - May 11, 2022 • 9
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Harlem hosts Spring Health Summit/Black Health Matters
Nightlife
Written by David Goodson
(Bill Moore photos)
Celebrating HIP HOP FEVER 2022 at Lehman College
The Spring Health Summit/Black Health Matters was held at Riverside Church. There, Roslyn YoungDaniels, president and founder of Black Health Matters, received a
Proclamation from the City and Mayor Eric Adams. There were panels too. Actor Malik Yoba sat on the panel on mental health; twin doctors Jeremy and Jermaine Hog-
strom joined the panel on COVID; Dr. Sheri Prentiss spoke on the shingles virus; and Dr. Michelle Morse and Alicia Butler sat on the panel on health equity.
Stop Domestic Violence rally held for Brittani Nicole Duffy (Bill Moore photos)
Stop Domestic Violence organization WARM - We All Really Matter held a candlelit vigil and march and rally for pregnant murder victim Brittani Nicole Duffy. On Saturday, April 30, 2022, be(Vinson Verdee photo)
ginning at St. Mary’s church in Harlem, Stephanie McGraw, founder of W.A.R.M., held the event “Stop Domestic Violence in honor of our angel Brittani Nicole Duffy.”
McGraw said that Duffy “was murdered and she was three months pregnant. This happened November 2021, the same time the young white woman Gabi was murdered. So no one talked about this.”
Rally told ‘Pres. Joe— Cancel student debt’ Supporting the cause of 45 million Americans, who together owe over $1.7 trillion in student debt, the December 12th Movement and the Cancel Student Debt Coalitions hosted an April 30th rally outside the Midtown Manhattan office of Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer. “The burden of student debt falls disproportionately on working class, poor students of color,” said attorney Roger Wareham, international secretariat of the December 12th Movement. “Particularly on Black women. President Biden can address this historic inequality by issuing an executive order canceling student debt.” They went to Schumer’s office “to urge him to support our campaign and deliver our message to the president.”
(Dave Goodson photo)
When you hear of certain events about to transpire, a whole other level of anticipation is sparked. While some shows profess classic lineups, the HIP HOP FEVER 2022 at Lehman College bought back the feel of late ’70s, the infancy of hip hop. At that juncture stacked superstar laden lineups would bring packed houses to venues such as the T Connection, Ecstasy Garage, the PAL (on Webster Avenue) the Hoe Avenue Boys or Harlem World. That feel permeated amongst a few that were milling about awaiting entry, and while there the question of who was gonna shut down the show arose. The consensus of the small congregation went to the home team! Can’t front, I felt validated as that was how I felt. In the vein of a true Bronxian the showstopper as they always will be hometown heroes SCORPIO and MELE MEL of the Furious Five plus Grandmaster Flash!! While the sentiments may be a little biased, facts are facts. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious were the BAR when there was no BAR. They created and set the standard for a hip hop group as well as EMCEE excellence. Since we had no fanzines or social media, we never got a chance to know and understand the group makeup, so I went to one of the sources to get a proper understanding. Said Mele Mel a few days before the show, “We said it in rhymes, he was so nice with his hands he don’t need no band. He was innovative with his cuts, and he did introduce the Beat Box live. Scorpio was the King of Finesse he was the first emcee to have what we call now SWAG. Me and my brother Kid Creole were the classic rhymers. Rahiem was the up and comer we needed to expand our audience. He had the hunger and was a great emcee. Last he said, ‘Cowboy was the best rapper we had and was the heart and soul of the group. He had the voice the girls loved and was a total crowd controller.’” Melding their talents with hard work made them the standard bearers in the streets and then came the unexpected; rap performances made it to wax. An outlet tailormade for the group. “We tried to make our shows as entertaining as possible, we had uniforms, dance steps, routines and harmonies in our performances and we were well rehearsed. When we hit the studio, it was like a second home. See NIGHTLIFE on page 28
