WAKE IT UP!
Today we honor the LIFE and LEGACY of the great Martin Luther King Jr.!
It goes without saying that Dr. King was a FREEDOM FIGHTER for ALL people! This HOLIDAY reminds us to look to the past from where we came and to also look to the future for there is so much more work to be done to bring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s DREAM to full fruition!
Dr. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
In 1986, El DeBarge, The Fat Boys, Full Force, Grandmaster Melle Mel, J.T. Taylor, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Menudo, New Edition, Run-DMC, Stacy Lattisaw, Stephanie Mills, Teena Marie, Whodini and Whitney Houston came together to form the King Dream Chorus and Dream Crew.
This all-star collaboration is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. in celebration of his birthday becoming a federal holiday in 1986.
The project was spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Dexter Scott King. He hit up the rapper/producer Kurtis Blow to put it together.
When Dexter King called, Kurtis didn’t believe it was him, so he hung up. But King was persistent and eventually convinced Kurtis that he was, in fact, Martin’s son, and explained what he had in mind (Kurtis says Dexter sounds just like his dad).
Kurtis wrote the song with Phil Jones and made numerous phone calls to assemble the performers. At the time, he was a respected pioneer in the rap community, so he had no trouble getting the hip-hop heavyweights on board.
(Run of Run-DMC used to DJ for Kurtis and was once billed as “Son of Kurtis Blow”). Rappers Melle Mel, Whodini, and The Fat Boys (whom Kurtis produced) joined Run-DMC, as did the singers El DeBarge, Lisa Lisa, Teena Marie, James “J.T.” Taylor (from Kool & the Gang), Stephanie Mills, Stacy Lattisaw and Whitney Houston. Along with New Edition, another boy band, the Puerto Rican group Menudo (with Ricky Martin) took part, as did the group Full Force and the rest is HISTORY!
Proceeds go to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change.
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