What is the Baltmore Mixtape Project? A project designed to create and promote locally produced progressive hip-hop and spoken word through MC battles and poetry slams, and through dissemination of politically charged mixtapes through urban communities.

Who are its members? A combination of academics (Lester Spence, Jared Ball), artists (Darius Wilmore), political activists (Lawrence Grandpre), non-profit service leaders (Zeke Cohen, Chris Baron) who work with and on issues of political inequality in Baltimore.

What is “Battle: Bar None”? The “School-to-Prison-Pipeline” denotes “practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems”. Many of Baltimore’s youth are intimately failure with these dynamics. Battle: Bar None is the title of our first contest.

Where does your money go? Donations go toward funding the prize pool for our “School-to Prison Pipeline” contest. Any additional above our $2000 goal will be allocated toward funding the expenses that come with the project (burning and disseminating cds, creating videos and fliers to promote the contest, etc.

All labor for the Baltimore Mixtape Project is volunteer; our payoff comes when we see the concert happen and the winners receive their checks. Every dollar donated counts as one more step toward making that dream a reality.

Check out our website at www.bmoremixtape.org

(Thanks to The Atlantic, for featuring the Baltimore Mixtape Project as one of the top 12 kickstarter projects to fund!)