While hip hop is often blamed for contributing to many societal ills like violence and sexism, Philadelphia hip hop duo Drematic and Y?Arcka are using their musical talents to address community issues. The duo are using their recently released album Water to raise funds to build a 100 fresh water wells in developing nations where millions lack access to clean drinking water.
Not only are they committing 100 percent of the album’s proceeds to the cause, but they have also established the nonprofit Water is Humanity to help raise funds.
The native Jamaican Drematic said, “I’ve always taken the art form seriously, but the realization that I could actually play an active role in making things better made me reassess my art. That’s when things got real.”
For both artists, “This project has purpose. We’re not in it to big ourselves up. We’re in it to change the world,” said New Jersey raised producer Y?Arcka.
Taking hip hop back to the earlier days, when artists focused on social justice, the duo created Water to not only showcase their lyrical and musical talents but also expand community members’ knowledge on the issue.
According to Water.org about one in eight individuals worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, resulting in the death of 1.4 million children each year due to preventable illnesses like diarrhea.
Additionally, women in the developing world spend more than 200 million hours of their day just collecting water. To make matters worse 272 million school attendance days are lost each year, as children are forced to stay home from school to help collect clean water miles away from their home.
“It’s unthinkable that people are dying because they lack access to a simple thing like drinking water,” Y?Arcka said. Drematic adds, “Water is a human right for all people.”
To show the world that water is indeed humanity, the duo is not only currently selling their album at waterishumanity.bandcamp.com, but they’re also planning several upcoming fundraisers in the Philadelphia area.
The Phoenix PR 