SNOOP DOGG VISITS NEW ORLEANS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (YEAH, I TOOK SOME PICS TOO)
From The Times Picayune Newspaper
May 7, 2009
The students at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary climbed over each other Thursday, pressing their hands and faces to the classroom windows.
Girls puffed their cheeks and covered their mouths with both hands. Boys arched their eyebrows and unleashed a collective gasp.
Snoop Dogg, the controversial rapper and pop culture icon, was here to teach a lesson.
"You should love yourself," he told them. "Love each other."
Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., proved to be an intriguing assembly speaker Thursday afternoon, preaching a message of education and anti-violence.
Some might challenge the performer's credentials for this bully pulpit: Broadus' past travails include stints in jail for drugs and a murder charge on which he was acquitted. Last year, for a time, he was banned from Australia -- although that may be of scant concern around New Orleans.
The brief speech and a question-and-answer session was coordinated by the Rev. Toris Young and the Louisiana Ministerial Alliance of Churches For All People.
Young coordinated another irony-laden news conference last month with local rapper C-Murder, who is on house arrest and facing trial for murder in Jefferson Parish.
Young and associates are touting a program that they say will debut this summer and will help keep children off the streets. With a few phone calls, Young secured an appearance by Broadus, who happened to be hosting a concert Thursday night in New Orleans.
So Young sent out a four-page news release with lots of capital letters. Shortly after 2 p.m., Broadus and bodyguards from the Nation Of Islam showed up the 9th ward neighborhood school. Two of his hip-hop colleagues -- both members of the rapper's "Dogg Pound" posse -- joined him. They are named Soopafly and Kurupt (pronounced like the word corrupt).
"All this black-on-black crime needs to stop, for real," Broadus said in a quick speech before meeting the students.
One of his handlers then warned reporters: "You must be positive about this, think positive."
As awestruck students fidgeted, Broadus asked: who listens to rap? All hands shot up.
He gave highlights of his rags-to-riches story, stressing the importance of going to school. He said his favorite subject was math and suggested that everyone become a calculus wizard. He said he likes football.
He briefly mentioned his scrapes with the law, saying that when he got out of jail he didn't "handle drugs" or "hang with thugs" and decided to do right. He also said that his priorities changed after he became a father.
The students hung on every word and clamored for autographs. After a half-hour, the lithe hip-hop figure with the short ponytail said goodbye.
"Snoop Dogg loves y'all," he said, winking toward the children as he headed out to his next engagement, at nearby Frederick Douglass High.
May 7, 2009
The students at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary climbed over each other Thursday, pressing their hands and faces to the classroom windows.
Girls puffed their cheeks and covered their mouths with both hands. Boys arched their eyebrows and unleashed a collective gasp.
Snoop Dogg, the controversial rapper and pop culture icon, was here to teach a lesson.
"You should love yourself," he told them. "Love each other."
Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., proved to be an intriguing assembly speaker Thursday afternoon, preaching a message of education and anti-violence.
Some might challenge the performer's credentials for this bully pulpit: Broadus' past travails include stints in jail for drugs and a murder charge on which he was acquitted. Last year, for a time, he was banned from Australia -- although that may be of scant concern around New Orleans.
The brief speech and a question-and-answer session was coordinated by the Rev. Toris Young and the Louisiana Ministerial Alliance of Churches For All People.
Young coordinated another irony-laden news conference last month with local rapper C-Murder, who is on house arrest and facing trial for murder in Jefferson Parish.
Young and associates are touting a program that they say will debut this summer and will help keep children off the streets. With a few phone calls, Young secured an appearance by Broadus, who happened to be hosting a concert Thursday night in New Orleans.
So Young sent out a four-page news release with lots of capital letters. Shortly after 2 p.m., Broadus and bodyguards from the Nation Of Islam showed up the 9th ward neighborhood school. Two of his hip-hop colleagues -- both members of the rapper's "Dogg Pound" posse -- joined him. They are named Soopafly and Kurupt (pronounced like the word corrupt).
"All this black-on-black crime needs to stop, for real," Broadus said in a quick speech before meeting the students.
One of his handlers then warned reporters: "You must be positive about this, think positive."
As awestruck students fidgeted, Broadus asked: who listens to rap? All hands shot up.
He gave highlights of his rags-to-riches story, stressing the importance of going to school. He said his favorite subject was math and suggested that everyone become a calculus wizard. He said he likes football.
He briefly mentioned his scrapes with the law, saying that when he got out of jail he didn't "handle drugs" or "hang with thugs" and decided to do right. He also said that his priorities changed after he became a father.
The students hung on every word and clamored for autographs. After a half-hour, the lithe hip-hop figure with the short ponytail said goodbye.
"Snoop Dogg loves y'all," he said, winking toward the children as he headed out to his next engagement, at nearby Frederick Douglass High.
Yeah, I took some pics of that but sorry my laptop won't let me upload the rest.