Last Friday at Hip Hop Speaks 4 Peace, an event organized by the Hip Hop Initiative, a college student dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans stood on the stage, beat boxing. A woman showed her love for the Muslim faith by reciting a poem in spoken word. While vastly different, both used Hip Hop to show their passion and creativity.The Hip Hop Initiative, which Dr. Aminah Pilgrim founded in 2004, defines hip hop as the essence of Hope, Intelligence, Purpose, Heart, Originality, and Pride. Diderot Jean Philipe, president of the Initiative, organized the event Hip Hop Speaks 4 Peace.”The original vision for the Hip Hop Initiative is to show people how racism, materialism, and militarism still exist. We started the initiative based on Martin Luther King’s last speech, revolution of values, and to this day prejudices still exist.  We feel that hip hop is a universal outlet in communicating with the youth, and through hip hop we address these matters and figure out solutions to them, said Jean Phillipe.Martin Luther King used speeches as his form of communication. In his final speech he says, “we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism are incapable of being conquered.”Though revolutionaries like Martin Luther King often face danger when others react to their ideas, the Hip Hop generation of today believes that nothing can get in the way of thousands of voices calling for change.Jean Phillipe considers Hip Hop Speaks 4 Peace his “baby.” This year, the organizers raised 200,000 dollars, the proceeds of which will go to the Haiti Relief Fund. Moreover, the event allowed people to understand the culture of Hip Hop and how it relates to Jazz music of New Orleans and Harlem, New York.”Overall, I give the event 100 percent,” said an ecstatic Jean Phillipe.Reason, a performer at the event, used the jazz band to give a brief historical lesson on how rhythmic music started in New Orleans and then caught on to the New York crowd. Another performer, Grace let the crowd know that she “busts AK’s and 44’s” in spoken word performance.Hip Hop Speaks 4 Peace was organized by students for a family-oriented crowd. Over 200 people filled the campus center ballroom at UMB the night of the event. But in the future, events like this may pack even more people in—as Jean Phillipe said, the event is his baby, so watch out for when the event matures.event matures.