WS Chronicle

The Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Department and A-Visions brought rapper “Jamal” to the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center last Friday to perform for the neighborhood kids and give them some advice from someone inside the industry.

Jamal came to town to perform at a party that took place on Saturday night. Lee Stewart of A-Visions and Your Vision is Not Dead Youth Center, coordinated with John Torain, senior supervisor of the MLK recreation center, to bring Jamal to the center.

Stewart said he works on the road a lot and some of his business partners know artists in the industry, so when the event was planned for Saturday night, he thought it would be a good idea for the artist to come and speak with the kids in the center.

“I wanted to do something to give back to the city of where I’m from,” said Stewart. “I wanted to let the youth know that there is something outside of violence and if you want to be a rapper or engineer, you can.

“There is a business side to everything you do in life and you have to know the financial side before you go and start signing your name on things,” he continued. “In this industry, people will want you to sign things and if you don’t know how to read, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into.”

During the event, Jamal performed several of his songs for the young kids and adults in attendance. He then took questions from the crowd pertaining to life in the industry. He then gave the youth some advice about what it takes to make it to his level and life skills outside of the music industry. There was also a barber in attendance that gave a free haircut to a lucky young person.

Stewart said he was pleased to have a part in bringing this event to the young people of the center. He feels the young people of the city have such a narrow view of life and wanted to show them what can happen if they focus on the right things.

“Today, kids don’t look at things the same what they did in the past, especially when it comes to the respect level of others,” he said. “We wanted to show them that you don’t have to be disrespectful and act like what you see every day.

“We just want to show them that you don’t have to be out in the street living the gang life and throwing up signs. We intend to show them there is a better life, but you have to work for it.”

Torian said he was excited to bring someone like Jamal to the center to show the kids what can happen if they work hard and stay out of trouble. He stated it was good to show the young people that there is life outside of the city of Winston-Salem.