VIDZ: Press conference for final Man Up Tour event in Houston

My friends at Factor Effects just released this video of the press conference* from a Reach Records Man Up event.

The Houston stop was the last one on their tour and somewhat of a homecoming for participating artists Lecrae, Tedashii, and Trip Lee.

During the presser, the guys discussed:

- Their thoughts about being back in Texas (peep Crayola's entertaining, H-town-influenced flow at the intro)
- Why the Man Up message is needed
- How the tour event has been received so far
- How the Man Up campaign came about
- The budget and logistics of producing the Man Up film (including the name of the Christian rapper who was supposed to take the role of "King" - it wasn't Lecrae)
- The story behind Lecrae's BET Awards Cypher opportunity
- And more

*Full disclosure: I organized and moderated the press event as a volunteer for Eyes On Me Ministries. Click here for a photo/video recap.

Recap: Man Up Tour - Houston

Lecrae in worship mode
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Two weeks ago the Man Up Tour wrapped its six-city jaunt with a stop in H-town. The half-day affair included a film, panel discussion, and hip hop concert focused on teaching the principles of biblical manhood to urban residents.

Top-selling Christian rappers Lecrae, Tedashii, and Trip Lee played a part and were either born or still have family in Houston. Other members of the immediate and extended Reach Records family who participated in the stop included: KB, PRo, Sho Baraka (who wrote and directed the Man Up film), DJ Official, shai linne, and spoken word artists Propaganda and Blair Linne.

Tre9 fighting a cold and getting his hustle on
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

The event was organized by hip hop missionary Bobby “Tre9” Herring and held at New Faith Church in South Houston. New Faith said they would be able to hold the anticipated 2,500 person crowd but that turned out not to be the case.

Pre-event waiting line in the New Faith gym

At one point, wishful attendees were stopped at the doors because there was simply no more room to sit inside the sanctuary. They were told that this would only be for the movie and panel discussion portions and that they might be able to secure a standing-room-only spot once the concert began and more people moved closer to the stage. To help keep the frustration levels at a minimum, Tedashii and PRo even came out to the waiting area to thank people for their support and patience.



Being an event volunteer (I helped coordinate a media-only press conference before the official kickoff), I missed all of the movie and panel discussion parts but did catch one or two songs from the concert. So while this isn’t a full-fledged recap, hopefully the following photos, videos, and notebook dump will give you a flavor of the day.

Crowd notes:

- Tedashii and PRo coming out to address the waiting crowd was a stand up move that exemplified one of the “real men take responsibility” themes of the Man Up campaign.

- Despite his song title to the contrary, T-dot had to ask those frustrated and waiting in line not to (wink,wink) “start a riot.”

Man Up panel discussion
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Up close and personal with PRo
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Blair Linne and her husband, shai, dance to "We Can Be More"
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Man Up concert crowd shot from the balcony
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Trip Lee going in
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Concert notes:

- Thanks to the crowd, the Man Up tour concert auditorium fittingly smelled like a lockeroom.

- Even though the venue was at capacity, people were still able to view the show via the free stream on the DaSouth.com’s Facebook page. I even saw some people in line watching it on their smartphones.

- The audience reaction to “Dum, Dum” is simply dumb, dumb. So much energy.

- A live performance of “Go Hard” is amazing. Ours included 2,000+ people chanting “Lord, use me up!”

- After I posted that Propaganda’s spoken word slays, @pdavidy8 Tweets me back that “all announcements in heaven will be done by Prop.” Amen.

- I’m not a huge fan of Lecrae’s “Background” song, but can’t deny it leads people to worship. The crowd was simply chanting “Jesus” as it ended.




Who was in the crowd:

- Cheesebeats (producer)
- Bizzle
- GS
- Gifted da Flamethrowa
- Von Won
- Soulfruit
- Dillon Chase
- 007
- D. Davis
- Second (HillaryJane, Wretch, & Archie)
- CCM/worship artist Robbie Seay who Tweeted: "I'm jammed in a room w/ 2k students listening to @Lecrae speak on faith & manhood. Love this guy. The most important hip hop artist anywhere."

Bizzle, Cheesebeats, Gifted da Flamethrowa
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Second served at the ticket booth
Photo by Rosalinda Chapa and used with permission

Soulfruit and DJ Wiz
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Dillon Chase and Sketch the Journalist
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Man Up press conference

Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Learned during our pre-event press conference:

- Lecrae turned down BET Awards Cypher invitation several times before, and this year’s was almost a “no-go” because of his recent newborn. Crayola said his wife said he could do it if it could be done on the same day and in the A-T-L where they live.

- Lecrae’s character of “King” in “Man Up” film was originally set for FLAME. Apparently he had a scheduling conflict and backed out just a few days before filming.

- Man Up’s film budget was approximately $45,000 and shot within 6 or 7 days with a crew of mostly non-actors and many non-Christians.

The night was full of interesting T-shirts, including:

- shai linne’s Martin Luther (see below)

- "Jesus loves you, but I’m his favorite” (moved by me too fast to take a photo)

- Homemade Lecrae shirts (see below)

shai linne's in his Martin Luther tee and Sketch the Journalist
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Homemade Lecrae "Rehab" merch
Photo by Sketch the Journalist

Lecrae and Reach Records bring tour to Houston to teach hip hop audience biblical manhood

From left to right: Tedashii, Lecrae, Trip Lee, and Sho Baraka

On Saturday, top-selling Christian rapper Lecrae and artists from his Reach Records label will bring their Man Up tour event to Houston. The half day affair includes a film, panel discussion, and hip hop concert focused on teaching the principles of biblical manhood to urban residents.

Lecrae, Tedashii, and Trip Lee will all play a part and were either born or still have family in Houston. Hip hop missionary Bobby “Tre9” Herring organized the effort to bring the tour here and feels those biographical backgrounds can benefit his work.

“Houston’s hip hop community loves and supports their own, so we utilize guys with local ties any time we can because it helps form an immediate bond with our intended audience,” Herring pointed out.

He said that intended audience includes inner city kids, particularly young males, who often come from single-parent homes and are bombarded with skewed images and ideas about what it means to be a "real man" from the mainstream hip hop culture that surrounds them.

Although event tickets are being sold as a fundraiser for Herring’s 501c3 non-profit Eyes On Me Organization (which holds weekly Hip Hop Hope Tuesdays services in 5th Ward, provides meals and clothing to the homeless, and plants churches in group homes and prisons), he has received donations that will sponsor over 150 underprivileged youth to attend Man Up.

“Reach Records and their non-profit organization have done an excellent job at creating a multi-media campaign that shares this important and life-changing message in way that is relevant to the young men and women I work with every day,” Herring said.

“I’m glad we can partner with them and utilize their experience and God-given talents to bring Man Up to our city.”

Details:
Man Up Tour event
Featuring: Lecrae, Tedashii, Trip Lee, Sho Baraka, Propaganda, PRo, shai linne, Blair Linne, and KB
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Doors open at 5:45 pm / Show starts at 6:30 pm
New Faith Church – 4315 West Fuqua Street – Houston, TX 77045

For more information and ticket purchases visit www.dasouth.com/manuphouston

Below, Christian rapper KB explains what the Man Up campaign is all about: