Rap Fest, Inc. - E - News 2007

Welcome to 2007. Happy New Year. We are excited to announce the following in our first Official E-News update of 2007.

- Efrain Alicea (aka Brother E), has been and continues to be a major part of the Rap Fest, Inc. staff since the 2nd year of its existence. With his vast knowledge of the Gospel Hip Hop industry and ministry aspects, he adds a pioneers value and insight to every move and decision we make at Rap Fest, Inc. In the past few years he has taken the role of Rap Fest, Inc. Vendor Relations manager. If you have been to Rap Fest .. you know it takes a special person to deal with the overflow of people in the vendor area. his volunteer services at Rap Fest shine beyond the vendor booths to anything else we might need during these events. In fact, back int he days, Brother E was the one responsible for the Rap Fest web site as well as the Rap Fest 99 MP3.com CD which was one of the most downloaded CDs on MP3.com for a while.

We are pleased to announce a new chapter in the "Life of Brother E". He has recently attained his Chaplaincy licenses in New York City. [[ A Chaplain is a clergyman ministering to some institution ]]. I have worked with Brother E for many years and, if there is anyone ready, willing and able to minister to the lost ... it's definitely "E". Congrats on that Brother.

Brother E continues to be a part of the Rap Fest, Inc. Staff as well as an active member of the Brothers Inc. 4 Da' Lord Rap minsitry along with DJ Nu Man and myself. One of his latest songs can be found on the Rap Fest Presents CD at http://www.rapfestinc.com.

Wait, there is more. Efrain is also currently on the Board of Directors for the Urban Youth Alliance in the Bronx. Urban Youth Alliance is an indigenous, multicultural, cross-denominational urban youth ministry that equips and empowers youth and youth workers to bring the transforming presence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to urban high schools, colleges, and communities. http://www.uyai.org.

And now we go to Brother E today. This coming Sunday, January 7, 2007 at 3:00 PM, Senior Pastor Sixto M. Carrion and Associate Pastor Efrain Alicea [Brother E], invite you to the inauguration service of The Promise Land Church located at 477 Brook Avenue, Bronx, NY. It's always a pleasure to see the spiritual and ministry growth in members of our family.

Rap Fest, Inc is extremely proud of Efrain and Erika's new roles and have our 100% prayerful support.

Please visit http://www.promisedlandchurch.net for a full listing of service schedules and other details and information.

January 2007

Free CD Offer from Rap Fest

Free CD Offer from Rap Fest - Downloadable CD Available Christmas Weekend

To The World, Christmas is about Presents. To us Christmas is about Jesus... The Greatest Gift of All. Therefore, our gift to you is this Free CD "Rap Fest Presents". Nicely wrapped tracks of Gospel Hip Hop flavor.

December 18, 2006 -- Rap Fest, Inc. is giving everyone a gift for Christmas. A free CD will be available online starting Friday, December 22, 2006. Rap Fest Presents *[n. prez-uhnt : give: give as a present; make a gift of

Over thirty Christian artists and producers have collaborated in this effort. Donating their time, their skills, their productions and their talents, this CD is guaranteed to be a hit, not just for Christmas, but also for a long time.

Most people are buying electronic devices such as MP3 players, gaming consoles, computers and other media driven gadgets. Why not give them a present that will impact their lives as well. Send them to www.rapfestinc.com where they will be directed to the appropriate links to download their free CD. All songs are offered in the standard MP3 format compatible with all audio-playing devices.

We have even taken it a step further. Thanks to our good friends at RSG Wed Designs, we also have a cd cover [jpeg image for you to download and print as well. While we are encouraging you to download this CD of multiple hip hop tracks, we also urge you to support the various artists appearing on the Rap Fest Presents CD by visiting their websites and purchasing music they may have available.

Artists currently expected to be on the Rap Fest Presents CD include; Sir Bug Out, Brother E, David Ham, Sheena Lee, Reflections of the Son, J.A.Z., Sean Slaughter, Preacher's Kid, John the Baptist, Crowned 1, 3D Remedy, Miz Rock, Runaway, Carriers of the Cross, Myster L, Magellan, and more. We even have a few international artists represented on the Rap Fest Presents CD such as; Yoshi Blessed from Japan, Mek MC from Germany, Jorge Valette and Juny Revelation from Puerto Rico, and from Nigeria; Bemsar, VC PEREZ and Sgt Plus.

Bert Bocachica, Dr El, Alex Medina, Khul Rhema, Vizunari, J.A.Z., Dofni, Cross Beats Inc., Yoshi Blessed, 3D Remedy, John the Baptist and Solomon Starr have all donated productions for this combined effort.

And finally, in effort to fulfill most people's requests for free music on line, Rap Fest Presents will also include countless "free" beats as well. Yes, the producers have given Rap Fest, Inc. permission to place their music on the project as a free gift for the up and coming rappers to download and write to. Perform your hits over high quality beats made by Christian producers. All styles and tempos will be available.

Licensing agreements and regulations will be posted on the website for all downloadable music in accordance with the current Copyright Laws set forth by the U.S. Government.

To The World, Christmas is about Presents. To us Christmas is about Jesus... The Greatest Gift of All. Therefore, our gift to you is this free CD "Rap Fest Presents". Nicely wrapped tracks of Gospel Hip Hop flavor.

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Not in my house !!!

*House = space.

Here's the scenario. I am a sold out, born again Christian. I have some friends and family that are not Christian. I choose when to go and when not to go to their house. I mean, I know my cousin "Juan" (made up name), is smoking weed and sniffin' coke so, why am I going to bring my family to his house to witness this.. If I go with intentions of ministering to him, I will but I will not subject my family to that exposure. And I definitely wouldn't want all my friends in that surrounding.. Unless they were ministering to him.

If a person I know happens to be a chain smoker, as long as they are in my "house*", they ain't smoking. No questions asked. You can come visit me. We can chill. But, you do your personal business or nonsense somewhere else.. As for me and my "house*", we will serve the Lord. You feel me.

I am baffled by the amount of Christians I find on line that have their friends list packed with Christians (ok, cool) but when you look down at their current comments and conversations there are people whose tag lines alone are vulgar, never mind what they are saying. Then, to see some of these half-naked girls on some of these people's sites makes me wonder what type of evangelism is going on in their conversations. What criterias are set for friendship?

In my mind I am singing; "I am a friend of God. He calls me friend".

My friends, beware... Satan is a liar and will take any of your weaknesses and use them to his advantage. If you have a myspace page up I urge you to check it daily and be sure that your friends are truly your friends.. Friends are usually similar to you in character, belief and ways. They reflect who you are or even how you are.

We minister in the streets all the time. We all know that God loves the sinner but hates the sin.. So, an addicted smokers, alcohol drinkers, sex addicts etc, will not find paraphernalia for their habits and/or sinful ways in my "house*"... I let them know... You are in my house now and in my house we live according to the Word of God.. (At least we strive to do so 24/7).

I think that it would be a more effective witness if we would tell people that, due to our ministry and integrity, we would appreciate a cleaner/safer look and cleaner/family friendly comments from them or we can't have them stay in our "house*".

Again, this is just my personal conviction. Many will disagree and that's cool... I just want to make sure I let people know how I feel. As for my and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Peace and God Bless.
Bert
8/1/06 12:35PM

Rap Fest Queens - Thank You

Hello and God Bless You All.

On behalf of Rap Fest, Inc. I want to thank all those that came out to support the evangelistic efforts which took place on Saturday, July 22, 2006 in Queens , NY . It was definitely an awesome time of minsitry in the street. Pastor Femi and The Life Zone Church (http://www.thelifezone.org) have an incredible vision for outreach and community.

We rolled up to the neighborhood at about 11:30AM in anticipation of the 12PM set up time. The weather was cooperating pretty much. It drizzled for a bit, but then, it poured like crazy. All this time, during the rain, the obvious transactions of illegal drug sales was the view we had from our vehicles. This neighborhood was no joke.

Nick Aponte and Heaven Bound Sounds showed up and it was still puring. Pastor Femi showed up with the generator and it was still pouring.

Finally, at about 1:10PM the rain subsided. We started setting up the tents and the equipment immediately. By 2PM all of the equipment was set up. Power was turned on by about 2:15PM and all was working lovely as DJ Tony Tone started spinning some heavenly hip hop.. (It actually started getting hot outside).

At 3PM on the dot we started our program as scheduled..

Von Vargas, from Baltimore , Maryland grabbed the mic and started breaking it down for the neighborhood.. Immediately after him The Quest, from Detroit , MI , hit with some powerful lyrics. While The Quest was up ministering, I got a call from Markilo Allen. Brother was coming in from Salt Lake City , Utah but he was held up in PA under severe storm conditions and was forced to end his travel there.. Unfortunately he was not going to make it on time.

God always provides though.. It's funny, most of the times, when there is an event going on, you find a bunch of rappers in the crowd anxiously awaiting an opportunity to get on stage. That wasn't the case this Saturday. Only the confirmed ministries were there at this time and no other hip hop soldiers had showed up to be spectators, support, chill, nothing.. Werid..

However, AOmega Global Military was in the house. Lavoisier (confirmed for Rap Fest Queens) was accompanied by AOGM artist, Switch'd. A Rap Fest veteran himself, we approached him requesting his help as a back up. Now, in normal circumstances we don't just throw someone in the mix but, in an indirect way, Switch'd is confirmed for Rap Fest Queens as a Lavoisier hype man so, it worked out lovely..

After Switch'd finished, Crossed out hit with heavy Reggaeton that attracted a few of the Spanish people int he neighborhood. In fact, there was a drunk man across the street whose wife just left him 2 days prior. Crossed Out ministered to him through their music. Eventually, this lead to pastor Daniel Delgado, of Third Day Ministries, going into his house to pray for him and bringing him out for the rest of Rap Fest..

Immediately after Crossed Out was Solomon Starr who was followed by his fellow Storyellas' mates, Brothers Inc. The night was capped off by Lavoisier. See, Lavoisier has done many solo concerts right in this same spot so, we let him break it down for everyone at the end.

At the end of the event, the testimonies and praise reports were coming in. At least 8 confirmed people gave their lives to the Lord. Others were prayed for ... even in their houses. My wife, my sister-in-law and my brother gave out some t-shirts to the neighborhood and the people were coming out with their Rap Fest T-shirts on to see what was going on. They even entered a few homes to pray for people and personally escort them to Rap Fest Queens.. It was definitely a blessed and successful evening... God is good and never fails..

Thanks again.

Rap Fest 2006 is approaching ... Stay prayed up.. Hope to see you there..

Bert Bocachica

White Out The Block

Hi and God Bless You,

I just received the shipment of Rap Fest 2006 T-Shirts. Wow, this is exciting. We have decided to white out the entire neighborhood.

As you might have noticed by now, Rap Fest will be held in the South Bronx again. Many people hear the Bronx or South Bronx and think dark, gloomy, scary, danger, poverty, etc. We are coming into this neighborhood with a different mentality. How many of you watched the NBA Finals and play offs? Did you notice how impacting the look of all white T-shirts in the arena looked. That's what we are doing. We want to bring in a feeling of purity and holiness to Arthur Avenue.

The Rap Fest T Shirts are, again, onn 6.1 Thick excellent quality material. I still use my Rap Fest 99 shirt.. Looks great.

M-L = $15
2X-5X = $18

Ladies Tank Tops - $15

This year we even have some bags (siilar to the nike drawstring bags) Bags are black with the Rap Fest design on them.
Only $14. So, as you buy CDs, you can drop them into your RF Bag and enjoy the day without having to hold the product in your hands all day.

Well, that's it.. the thought for today.. Let's White Out.. !!!!

Where They At ? .. Looking for the real CHRISTIAN hip hop soldiers.

I remember back in the days when I first started ministering, using rap as the tool to reach the young people. It was so different back then. We would gather weekly to rehearse songs and think of song titles. I mean, going into scripture as a group to discuss issues which can be topics in songs..

I remember when we used to go to concerts that had other Gospel rappers like God's Creation, Joyful Noiz, Demo/Understanding and others who have since retired from the HHH scene. The good thing is, we always had others to look at and be encouraged to know that we were not alone in this "rap game" as the world so wrongly labels it.

Anyway, lately I have been noticing that those real mentor moments are disappearing. Rappers starting out in the Christian Rap ministry route nowadays have no one to look up to.. Why? Have they all retired? Have they all slipped back into the world? Have they all become ordained preachers and abandoned the tool they used in the past? Have they all grown too old to continue?

I am not sure what the answer is but gone are the days when every week we received flyers at our churches announcing this rap group or that rap group coming to minister and the people would get excited. Seems like most of the groups that were looked up to back in the days or were more respected back in the days have disappeared from the "every day event or gathering".

Youth rallies, youth services, coffee houses, street meetings etc.. Where they at? .. Looking for the real CHRISTIAN hip hop soldiers. We all go around stating we in bad times and it's a war out there.. Spiritual war against the enemy etc.. etc.. but, look around.. Where are the soldiers..?

Perhaps the pay is not high enough to be in the little battles. We rather be in the aircraft carrier pushing buttons and getting paid big for that work.. Little effort with high, earthly returns. I remember when Brothers Inc ministered at the Smithsonian Institute for an entire week at their Folklife Festival. Wow.. not many groups can say they did that.. But, you know what was the best part of that trip for us? Going out to the local (small.. uhhhh.. very small ) churches and ministering. I am talking about, we had to rap into choir mics that were like lapels... Whew.. crazy... How many groups would even settle for that nowadays.

The altar call and the responses afterwards though were priceless.. We had parents buying CDs to give to their kids who were wrapped up in the things of the world..

I have been looking online for testimonies from rap ministries that were "freestyling on the corner" like quest used to do.. or hit and runs like TRUCE is currently doing in London.. or free concerts and events where the focus is Jesus and not "My manager requires me to make X amount of money per event"...

Can you feel the hurt my heart is displaying. And hey, I know we all deserve pay for our hard work and I am 100% for that at all times.. But, I had a young lady from a small NJ church on the phone recently and she was like... I wish there were groups out there that would minister at our church. It's small and we don't have money to pay big offerings... Where they at?... Looking for real CHRISTIAN hip hop soldiers.

Not sure what my closing thoughts would fit best here.. Perhaps just a humble request and cry to my fellow Christian Rappers worldwide.. Please please please.. do not forget the small churches and the outreaches worldwide... There are kids out there looking for Christian Rappers to look up to.. but, if they don't see them... hmmmmmm...

Where They At ? .. Looking for the real CHRISTIAN hip hop soldiers.

Bert Bocachica
July 6, 2006 12PM

Hip Hop Stereotype gets Crossed Out

Hello everyone and God Bless You.

First of all, I thank God for the salvation of my soul and forgiveness of my sins. Without Him we are nothing.

I had the pleasure of hosting the Crossed Out CD Release concert this past Saturday at Jehovah Shamma. I will get my thoughts about their music in here quick. They are hot.. Don't fall asleep on them.. Ministry in every song. Great production and excellent vocals. Yes, Reggaeton rappers that can actually sing too.. hahahaha.

Well, the concert was supposed to be held at Monroe High School. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of everyone's control, the event had to be moved back to the local church on Southern Blvd. Jehovah Shamma.

At first glance it was like a regular X-Out Cafe night which they hold regularly. Bunch of teenagers all over the place.. I mean literally... All Over The Place. . AS the night progressed, the crowd thickened and thickened and thickened. It was crazy.. Standing room only by start time.

Speaking about start time. Since the School was not available to us, JS ministries had vans at the school to transport anyone who might have showed up to the school thinking it was still going to be held there. That kind of pushed the starting time to 8:30 PM in stead of 7:30 PM. The Worship DVD's in the background kept the place focused on God's goodness for the 1 hour delay. (Praise Him).

Finally, when it was time to start, the people got excited. The crowd was eager to hear some blasting Reggeton music. But, nothing gets done without praying first so, for the first half hour, the audience was lead in a good 30 - 40 minutes of prayer time. Wow.. Is this a hip hop reggaeton concert? Where was all the break dancing hype men in the beginning of the concert. Where was all the loud destructive music that should be blasting out of the speakers? Where were all the irreverent folk with oversized clothes and bandanas? hmm..

Facts:
1 - There was no opening ceremony with breakdancers.
2 - There was no loud destructive music.. Only Worship to begin.
3 - The irreverent folk (as they are so oftenly described as) were all in prayer.

That's right. Prayer was the opening ceremony of the night. As Christians, no matter what your role in ministry is; a painter, a sound man, security guard, a cook, a singer, a rapper, a preacher, an evangelist, a teacher, etc... Prayer is the key to open up the blessings from heaven that God has for you and others.

So, all those people looking to stereotype Reggaeton Concerts read closely. This was not a Reggaeton concert, this was a CHRISTIAN Reggaeton concert. Key Word Christian. Remember, if we are Christians, Christ must be the center of what we do. If He is not the subject of your every thought, conversation, action and move, you won't succeed.

Much props to Crossed Out Entertainment Ministries, Jehovah Shamma and all of those behind the planning of the X-Out CD release concert. You truly stand out and showed the true lifestyle of a CHRISTIAN Reggaeton gathering.

Much thanks to all of the ministries that celebrated the evening with us. Yes, we celebrated the current achievements of the X-Out ministries but, there was no doubt that God was getting all Praise non stop. That, my friends, was not and is not a show. Too many people stereotype the Christian rap ministries as being Hype-Men only. Please read closely. These people are called into ministries just as singers, evangelists, preachers and others. If God is not involved it's all flesh and talent. A preacher without God as the center is just as useless as a rapper or singer without God as the center. There is absolutely no difference.

So, in summary, go pick up a X-Out CD. You will not be disappointed. 12 tracks of ministry. In fact, my favorite track is not even a rap track.. It's a preacher over a beat.. Whew.. "Sacudete" it's fire. !!

Rap, Reggaeton, Jazz, Ska, Salsa ... Those are all music styles.
Christian = The person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord.

Christian Rap = A person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord using Rap as a tool.
Christian Reggaeton = A person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord using Reggaeton as a tool.
Christian Jazz = A person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord using Jazz as a tool.
Christian Ska = A person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord using Ska as a tool.
Christian Salsa = A person who has rendered his or her life to the Lord using Salsa as a tool.

Go out and preach the message to everyone. That's our call. The Great Commission.

Let's do it.
Bert
6/27/06