Thug Life Army

On Monday May 22, 2006, a day of Hip-Hop Education classes will take place, while Raqiyah Mays and Mega of NY's hip-hop, rap and R&B's Hot 97 radio station serve as co-Principals for the day at Sankofa Academy, an alternative high school in Brooklyn, New York. Serving as Principle and Vice-Principle, both Raqiyah and Mega personally decided to help out of a love for working with youth and the community.

“I’m glad that the Hip-Hop Association asked me to do this. It’s a great opportunity to get students excited.” Inspired by a West African concept of reciprocity, Sankofa literally means "we must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today." The day was created in order to demonstrate to students an example of how individuals in Hip-Hop are making contributions to local and global education, marketing, business and policy.

“We believe that successful individuals who teach messages of education, are great resources for helping students make better life decisions and career choices. Considering the relationship between Hip-Hop and our kids, who better to make a impact than successful professionals from the Hip-Hop community,” say’s Wayne Harris, Coordinator at Sankofa Academy. With classes being taught by Raqiyah, Mega, students will explore topics such as entrepreneurship, marketing and promotions, alternatives to violence, women’s involvement in Hip-Hop, and the benefits of education as a tool for accomplishing personal goals. Surprise guests are expected to attend.

“I think what’s important to remember here is that this is simply an example of how individual leaders within the Hip-Hop community can take a moment out their busy lives to work directly with students experiencing challenges both academically and behaviorally. It’s a small step towards providing a layer of excitement to the work educators are already doing in helping students to understand how education creates options” says Rolando Brown, Executive Director of the Hip-Hop Association.

Raqiyah Mays, DJ for Hot 97, author and writer for VIBE, Essence, The Source, XXL, as well as Executive Editor of the ever expanding socially aware magazine The AVE, believes in the power of education and has hosted and spoken at over a dozen community based events within the last year.

Mega a.k.a Megatron, DJ for Hot 97, VJ for the Hype TV Show, as well as actor, has hosted several events and parties in order to raise money and awareness for small community organizations.

The Sankofa Academy is a Second Opportunity School, servicing students that have committed serious infractions of the City Chancellor’s Discipline Code, resulting in a one year suspension. These students then attend Sankofa Academy, continuing their education but receiving individual, group and family counseling services that address the root causes for suspending causing behaviors. Sankofa Academy has a good reputation for implementing programs and activities that reengage students in poor academic standing. Sankofa Academy also helps young people in crisis to establish their identities as learners by creating partnerships with private businesses, institutions of higher learning and other specialty non profit community based organizations.