Residents of the Arnett Benson neighborhood got together to listen to hip-hop music that had a divine message Saturday at the Lubbock Boys and Girls club on Cornell street.
It’s called ‘Reach the Streets’ and is aimed to help local residents struggling with addiction or homelessness in their community through hip-hop music.
“There was a shooting last week and I heard about a shooting yesterday,” event organizer Michael Ramos said. “I mean every day there’s something and when I was out there on the streets it was bad, but it seems like it’s worse. It’s going to continue to decay unless we treat it.”
Ramos is a lifelong Lubbock resident, he decided to turn his own life around a few months ago and dedicate it to God.
“I was selling drugs since I was 10, I’ve been in gangs, I did the whole thing,” Ramos said.
Ramos said it’s important to lead by example so the current youth knows they too can change the course of their life.
“I can’t tell them you need to be a great dad if I can’t be one so that’s what I’m working on,” Ramos said. “That’s what I’m going to do. That’s why I’m encouraging these people, ‘look I’m fighting this battle with you, you’re not fighting it alone.'”
Rey Sandoval came to the event in Lubbock from Abilene and said he’s a recovering heroine addict who has been clean for five years.
Sandoval now runs a discipleship called Abilene Dream Center that cares for people struggling with addiction.
He said hip-hop music is a great way to spread the message to people they are trying to reach.
“We all rapped but we did it for the wrong reasons,” Sandoval said. “We did it to glorify the world, drugs, alcohol, but God has given us these talents. So we want to use the same thing we used to glorify the bad, we want to glorify God.”
Ramos said the community response was amazing.
“Last night there was over 300 plus people and today early people were here before I got here,” Ramos said. “We’re not doing this to glorify us we’re doing it to glorify God and what He’s done for us.”
