(Top - L-R) Red Cloud, Immortal Technique, Ishmael Muhammad and Yo’ Nas Da Lonewolf (bottom) Original Man’s Barbershop participated in skits during the Detoxx. Photos: Ashahed Muhammad

“Hip Hop Detoxx,” a catchy title but what does it mean?

“Hip Hop has been called the CNN of youth,” explained organizer and founder Enoch Muhammad. “Detoxx means to remove poisons. This is the evolution of our work to help youth and adults to detoxx from the behaviors that cause social ills such as crime, drugs and the abuse of women.”

“All of these issues are talked about in hip hop. We want to help find solutions using the best of what we’ve learned from self-improvement and atonement. We couple that with cultural expressions and we have a theatrical performance. We use all elements of music, drama and dance to uplift our people.”

It was a night of unlikely partnerships, strange bedfellows and a mix of music. That night you could hear the Commodores, the Sugar Hill Gang and Soulja Boy. That night you could see tap dancers and break dancers. That night you could see a martial arts demonstration, hear spoken word artists and dramatic presentations.

It was night to offer hip hop as a means to change behavior.

If you have problems in your life, you need to detoxx. And if you solve them getting high, you need to detoxx. If when you talk you have to lie, you need to detoxx. If you solve them doing crime, you need to detoxx … we came here to show you how.

Those lyrics are from the Hip Hop Detoxx promotional video. It was that video that sold the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on having this performance at Saviour’s Day 2008.

“We are so thankful to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for giving us this opportunity. He heard about our work and we met with him and showed him the promo video that’s on My Space,” said Bro. Enoch.

“He really loved what he saw and we are so thankful for his encouragement. What people saw last night was the first part, ‘Be the Change.’ We have more and want to spread this message.”

Hip Hop Detoxx has debuted in Chicago Public Schools and was featured on Fox News. Tonight, however, was a predominantly Muslim crowd. How would they receive the detoxx message?

For 17-year-old Khalifah Muhammad from Washington, D.C., it was an experience.

“I thought it was good, some parts better than others. I liked the poetry and the part about the guy getting the girl pregnant. The message was good.”

That’s Hip Hop Detoxx.