Jay-Z and Kanye West released their highly anticipated album Watch the Throne today and had Twitter abuzz with this sure to be multi-platinum album. At BCG we are huge fans of both of these artists and we love that they give back. Take a look at some photos and videos of causes that the Watch the Thorne artists support.
Click Here to Download Watch The Throne on iTunes!
Every year at the NBA All-Star Game Jay-Z joins forces with Lebron James to give back to youth and raise money with their Two Kings Dinner. At February’s All-Star Game the Brooklyn rapper gave Los Angeles Youth a new basketball court.
In 2008 Jay-Z was honored at the United Nations Global Leadership Awards Gala for his work to bring clean water to the poor. In a statement to People Magazine (Link) he said: “Many charities, you close your eyes and cross your fingers and hope that the money gets to the people who really deserve it. “But with this, I got to go to Africa, see the water pumps. I got to see the kids turn them on.”
Jay pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.
Few may know this but away from his undeniably great beats and multi-platinum albums Kanye West is a huge crusader against poverty, hunger and poor education among other causes. In 2005, West and his late mother, Dr. Donda West, co-founded the Dr. Donda West Foundation with the goal of reducing the number of kids who drop out of school.
Reports surfaced back in April that the Kanye West Foundation had closed it’s doors. The website is still up and active as of June 21st. The mission of the Kanye West Foundation, is to help combat the severe dropout problem in schools across the United States by partnering with community organizations to provide under-served youth access to music production programs that will enable them to unleash their creative ability and reach their full potential. Kanye’s vision, and thus the vision of the Kanye West Foundation, is its inaugural program, “Loop Dreams”, a music production program designed to motivate students to stay in school and graduate. The vision of the foundation is broad and not easy to attain but we are committed to the ongoing development of this program across the country and envision a day when the high school dropout rate in cities across this nation will be virtually non-existent. It is the belief of every member of our team that the opportunity to participate in the arts will motivate today’s high school students to stay in school and graduate.
Kanye and his supermodel friend Selita Ebanks attended the New Yorkers for Children Wrap to Rap Party for kids last November .
According to Look to the Stars – Through donations, concert proceeds, and his foundation, West has been a vocal and outspoken supporter of broader education issues, and of organizations such as: Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America.
Two thumbs up for Jay-Z & Kanye West and all that they have done to Give Back! Can’t wait to see what Jay and Ye’ do next!
I love this, they get such a bad wrap it’s good to see nice things about them.