Hip Hop Girl

I heard a song yesterday called Sincerely Jane by Janelle Monae, a rising star in the R&B/ hip hop world. She looks like a protege of Grace Jones, which is why I listened to her song anyway. I was looking for someone to perform at an upcoming conference on teen pregnancy prevention. Her lyrics kept sticking with me. She says "Left the city, my momma she said don't come back home, These kids round' killin each other, they lost they minds, they gone, They quittin' school, making babies and can barely read, Some gone off to their fall, lord have mercy on them, One, two, three, four, your cousins is round' here sellin' dope, While they're daddies, your uncle is walking round' strung out, Babies with babies, and their tears keep burning, while their dreams go down the drain now, I've seen them shootin' up funerals in they Sunday clothes, Spending money on spinners but won't pay college loans , And all you gangers and bangers rollin' dice and taking lives in a smokey dark, Lord have mercy on you, Teacher, teacher please reach those girls in them videos, The little girls just broken Queen, confusing bling for soul, Danger, there's danger when you take off your clothes, all your dreams go down the drain girl." WOW, POWERFUL WORDS. I work in a non profit where we work really hard to inspire futures and change lives every day in the inner city. The entire song seems to capture the spirit of what these young people go through every day. It reminded me of all of these hip hop artists/professional athletes and other celebrities that start their own foundations because their managers advise them that this is a good idea or maybe it is their own ego. I am not sure, either way, they will start out by investing a $500K to $1M then they will ask their manager or mother to manage the Foundation. A year or two later, they host a fundraising event, and with their cache as a celebrity, actually get people to sponsor to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. Then at the end of the day, they actually paid so much for the party and entertainment, that their is not much left for their cause. Then they will host something for a day or a few weeks for inner city kids so the world can see how generous they are with all of the money they are making on the ringtones that that the inner city kids just paid .99 cents for. Truth is, many of these athletes/hip hop artists and other celebrities will spend more money in an evening at a gentleman's club than they will on the kids in the neighborhoods in their own backyard. What would it take to get these guys to invest their money in existing non profits in their own backyards? Instead of hosting a one day or two week event that essentially does nothing for the young people, you actually change a young boy or girl's life by investing your time and your money in a non profit that is professionally staffed and poised for change. Like Janelle says in the song "spending money on spinners but you won't pay for college loans"?