Posted March 21, 2017
By HANYA ALKHAMIS
“If you make music for the people you can never go wrong.”
A rising star once said those words. His astonishing charisma on the stage, left all the 60-something guests speechless. Everyone gathered around this rising star as he and his band preform their music pieces, as they danced to the rhythm of the music.
From playing the guitar to singing and beatboxing Sekajipo gives some of his time to socialize and build connections.
This rising star is Dawyen Sekajipo better known as the Liberian-American recording artist, activist and Hip Hop musician. Sekajipo is an acoustic hip-hop performer who fuses the styles of Lauryn Hill, Tupac and Bob Marley to create inspirational music with a message. He also raps, beatboxes, using the beat machine and the looper.
The 28-year-old musician wants to inspire immigrants from all over.
“My story is that of the immigrant child, finding their voice in a new world while struggling with the duality of being fully African and American. My music is the voice of the marginalized, the outsiders and outcasts who struggle to fit into a society that is continually trying to silence and shut them out,” he stated.
For the past seven years, Sekajipo has been an international artist, activist and a youth mentor.
“As a teaching artist I’ve been able to impact the lives of hundreds of youth foster care and juvenile justice. I’ve also toured throughout the Miami Dade Schools and in Liberia, Haiti, and Colombia partnering with other international organizations who use hip-hop for youth development and social justice advocacy,” he explained. “Currently I’m in the studio working on my album for the summer.”
He has been everywhere lately from touring around Tampa and Miami to also coordinating with Path to hip-hop. Path to hip-hop is a hip-hop education and youth development program that he has been part of for the past eight years.
“Sekijipo is a revolutionary artist for the people!Very passionate and his life is portrayed in his music.He really cares about teaching people how to love and coexist in this cruel world,” Hubert; a keyboard player and producer in the band Higher Frequency, stated:
Hubert is currently producing Sekajipo’s music for his soon-to-be released project. Not only did Hubert have great things to say about Sekajipo, Feibein, Higher Frequency’s event coordinator, couldn’t stop gushing of he is such an inspiration.
“I met Sekajipo when someone solicited him to come perform at my event. From there, I took good interest in him and looked to not only find others willing to book him to perform. His lyrics along with his innate talent inspires me and still up to today,” Feibein stated.
Sekajipo will be preforming live on April 1, 2017, as he makes his way through his coffee shop tour from Miami to Los Angeles. He still keeps following his passion in inspiring society and the people around him with his music and collaborations.
“If you make music for the people, you can never go wrong,” he stated. “I believe people are my greatest currency. The value in who they are will always be greater than the value of what they do. As long as I have the people, I’ll never be broke.”
That’s why he is well known as “Sekajipo for the people.”