Rebel Wise Workshop

Empowering Voices of Our Community,

Exploring Deeper Connections to Hip-hop, Pop Culture

& Transforming Reality

As we face the current challenge of diminishing in-person community and healthy social connection, we recognize that youth growing up today are especially vulnerable to toxic virtual landscapes. In preparation to meet the needs of an unknown future as related to COVID, it is important to effectively engage with students in an experience of community connection and encouragement of healthy forms of self-expression for mental health and positive self-identity.

While the majority of mainstream Hip-hop continues to promote fantasy and escapism, there are artists who are committed to using their artistic craft to provide uplifting messages for humanity, encouraging community-power, at this crucial time in history. Local-Portland artists Quincy Davis and Mic Crenshaw combined forces for Rebel Wise, an original, full-length album that combines high-caliber modern production, of commercial quality with cutting-edge, conscious lyricism, featuring 16 top-notch MCs from around the world.

Quincy and Mic are offering virtual workshops for youth (typically middle-school or high-school age) and providing an opportunity  to dialogue and learn in an interactive exchange of creativity, observation, experience  and expression in the audio and visual format. They will provide a multimedia  presentation of stunning music videos with poetic verse and an original documentary featuring renowned Human  Rights leaders. This will lead into Q&A and sharing of their own stories, knowledge, experience and technical skills, of poetic verse, music and video-production. Most importantly, the workshop is designed to engage youth with open dialogue on such themes as: transformation through  struggle with identity, addiction, violence  & finding a spiritual path rooted in  creativity & ancient principles. Our goal is to encourage the development of positive forms of expression and offer a supportive environment for students to reflect on life  & purpose in an ever changing  & uncertain world.

The workshop honorarium request is $1200-$2400 for 4-8 sessions, (ranging from 45 minutes to 1 and a half hours per session), facilitated by both guest artists. Contributions can be made through our partner 501c3 non-profit organization NAAME (Northwest Alliance for Alternative Media and Education) for tax write-off purposes.

Your support will help Mic and Quincy produce music videos for their new full-length project Rebel Wise to reach youth and audiences across the world. Each music video will also be utilized as a teaching tool for an expanded upcoming youth program in 2021, Voices of the Ancestors and the Modern Mythology.

Rebel Wise audio and music video examples:

Debut single and music video titled Caô Xangô featuring Xamada (Ashland), Mic Crenshaw (Portland) Pharaoh The 47 (Nigeria), Neo Vechi (Portland) and dancer Oluyinka Akinjiola (Nigeria): https://vimeo.com/454632204
Album listening link available on:
- All platforms: https://rebelwise.hearnow.com/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/neovechi/sets/rebel-wise

Educators / Workshop Facilitators

Mic Crenshaw

Cultural-activist, community leader, lyricist & performer who was born on the Southside of Chicago and raised between there and Minneapolis. His teenage years were challenging as he actively confronted white supremacist gangs that were a growing part of the hard-core music scene. He eventually chose to escape the violence and moved to Portland, where he quickly became one of the most respected artists in the Northwest, and his community efforts have had both local and international impact. Mic Crenshaw is a world class MC and poet on the national and international stage, as lead organizer of The Afrikan Hiphop Caravan, an annual project to allow thousands of young people to experience Hip Hop Culture at its’ finest: as an elevating form of of expression, a creative and revolutionary counter-force to all forms of oppression.

Website

neo_vecci_northern_lights_edited_edited.

Quincy Davis / Neo Vechi

is a music producer, lyricist, recording artist, performer, filmmaker, and educator of Hungarian and Mongolian ancestry who has worked with students in Portland, as a guest speaker and workshop leader since 2011. He is dedicated to his craft and believes in the transformative power of art and the responsibility of the MC (Master of Ceremony) to deliver with clear intention. Much of his work is inspired by his journey out of a self-destructive lifestyle, to commit to sobriety 9 years ago, and eventually find his path, supported by Earth-based ceremony and teachings, that profoundly changed his life. He dreams of visiting Mongolia to connect with his blood ancestry land of origin and explore the bridging of modern and traditional music and healing.

Website

Testimonials

Feedback from our first 3-day workshop series at Bridger K-8, Portland that took place in November, 2020

In this historical moment, there is nothing more important than finding ways to engage students in meaningful learning opportunities. Our visit from guest artists Mic Crenshaw and Quincy Davis provided a chance for students to learn about storytelling, music production, and art as resistance through live discussions. This experience made students feel connected to the community outside of the online learning environment, provided chances for critical thinking, and let them know that their voices matter.

Susan Anglada Bartley, M.Ed, Bridger K-8

I liked how they were leading the conversation.

Elyas M.

They were super inspiring and their music is very powerful.

Amara P.

Their music told stories and told things about the world right now, they are inspiring with a powerful type of music.

Presley P.

They're using their music to tell stories about what is going in the world today and express themselves and share their perspectives so that we can connect with them through a whole personal level. Their music is powerful, well-thought, and provoking, using quotes that can shape people's perspectives on how they see in the world. In other words, their music helps us connect and reunite as a community during hard times when our country feels divided and hope is lost.

Thyson N.