OxfordPress.com

MONROE — Solid Rock Church wants to spread positivity among youth with a new regular event starting Saturday: the Holy Hip-Hop Fest.

The music event will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 7, with the national Christian rapper Flame, and the local artist K-Drama.

Solid Rock's youth pastor, Franklin Hicks, started the event as a reaction to what he called persistently negative messages by most of today's rappers.

"It's kind of the opposite of secular music, like you get on BET or MTV. We want to create something positive, instead of rapping about drugs and violence and having sex outside of marriage," he said.

Hicks hopes to repeat the event either every year or every six months, because youth can use something different from what most of pop culture feeds them.

"We can tell kids don't listen to negative music, but we don't give them an alternative," Hicks said.

Flame will perform songs from his fourth album and chart topping Billboard release "Our World Redeemed."

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.

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