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Posted on December 17, 2009 by stash

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East Palo Alto gym teacher to release hip hop single benefiting Haiti

An East Palo Alto gym teacher who has worked on a number of charity hip-hop albums plans to release a four-song maxi single on iTunes at the end of the month to benefit the Haitian earthquake survivors.

Stephen Ashford, who goes by Kontac in the music scene, approached hip-hop artists from around the Bay Area to participate in the project and will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to charitable organizations helping in the Haitian relief effort. A 7.0-earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation last month.

"You get four songs for a dollar, and it's going to a good cause," Ashford said Monday as he taught a physical education class at East Palo Alto Charter School, where he has worked for 10 years. The album's name is "To Haiti With Love."

Ashford said he also plans to shoot two videos of the songs. Artists participating in the single include Jacka, Mac & A.K., Dem Hoodstarz, Kafani, Mugzi and Eddi Projex, among others.

"I thought that it was something to give back to the community," Kafani said. "It's a positive message for people to help and donate."

Ashford, a 35-year-old father of three, has worked on a number of projects benefiting schools. In 2006 he released the compact disc "Learning in Motion," which helped fund an East Palo Alto Charter School eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C., and a bowling expedition for younger students at the school.

Ashford raised more than $10,000 with the "Stay in School" maxi single in 2008 and used that money to buy gym equipment, such as balls, nets and pumps for struggling schools around the Bay Area. He released an 18-song album last week titled "All Rap Aint Bad" featuring E-40, Mugzi and other artists.

A longtime fixture in the Bay Area hip-hop scene, Ashford said he began creating positive, kid-friendly music after he became a teacher.

"The kids listen to a lot of stuff that I do, so I only do positive stuff," Ashford said.

Dennis "Sugakane" Tully, who has produced many of the projects, said the songs also give parents more positive feelings about rap — particularly when their children appear in the videos, as they did for the "Stay in School" single.

"It actually affects me too," said Tully, who is producing the Haitian project with D-struct.

"I have a little one, and day to day I try to tell him the rights and the wrongs, the do's and the don't's."

Ashford said he hopes local radio stations, such as Wild 94.9 and 106 KMEL, will support the Haitian project by playing songs from the single, as they have in the past.

By releasing the songs through iTunes, Ashford won't have to pay overhead costs associated with compact discs — and Apple has agreed to waive all fees, he said.

"All I want to do is just sell a lot of them and raise some money," Ashford said.

To see a video Ashford and others put together for the "Stay in School" project, go to http://www.vimeo.com/4141599.

Ashford can be contacted at kontac@tmail.com. To reach Kafani, go to http://twitter.com/kafani.

By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Daily News Staff Writer
Source: San Jose Mercury News

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Posted on February 03, 2010 by stash

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