By Ambreen Ali for Congress.org

David Saucedo didn't give up rapping when he became a youth minister and tea partyer.

The ex-felon just swapped out rhymes about drugs and misogyny for those about liberty and God.

His stage name Polatik , which he created while under the influence of anarchists in a Texas prison, turned out to be ironically prescient. Today, Saucedo uses his rhymes to champion the Constitution and urge young activists to get politically involved.

"They're taking our freedom, we're going to take it back. Pretty soon when we breathe, they'll be taxing that," he rapped on stage during the April 15 tea-party rally in D.C.

Saucedo is the rare conservative in a growing movement that uses hip hop, the youth subculture surrounding rap music, to get disillusioned youth interested in activism.

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For The Seattle Medium

On Tuesday, the National Conference of Black Mayors called on the Senate to chart a new direction for Americas future through comprehensive climate and energy legislation that will provide for the sustainability of our nations most vulnerable communities. Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Lee and Members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined 20 African American mayors along with the Hip Hop Caucus in their call for Senate action.

The National Conference of Black Mayors accepts the obligation to actively engage in the national conversation on clean energy and advocates for a new and comprehensive climate and energy federal policy. Our federal lawmakers must have the courage to step away from status quo provisions that have marginalized vulnerable communities and debilitated generations of American citizens with health and economic consequences, said NCBM Executive Director Vanessa R. Williams.

The call for action is a part of the NCBM Green The City Initiative, which has recently partnered with the Hip Hop Caucus to strengthen its outreach to our nations youth. The initiative aims to assist African American mayors in putting their cities on a path to long-term economic and environmental sustainability.

Regular Americans in cities represented by these Mayors want to see action. They are ready to help make their cities thrive again, working with their Mayors and city governments. They realize that while the Senate is being indecisive, their cities and communities are suffering, and a clean energy future sits in the balance, said Hip Hop Caucus President Reverend Lennox Yearwood. This generation is fighting for its very existence.

The delegation of Mayors convened in the nations capital for a three-day summit to strategize on advancing a national plan to move their cities to become more energy efficient, reduce pollution and create new clean energy jobs and businesses. While in D.C., Mayors met with Senators, Cabinet Leadership, industry experts and environmental advocacy groups.

The group aims to impress on the Senate the need for decisive action on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that will undergird their local efforts. Mayors and their communities want to create new opportunity through clean energy investments, but they need Washington to act.

The group urged our nations leaders to take responsible and reasonable action as it transitions from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy future for the sake of the American people, and requires the energy industry to operate with regard for our communities and our planet.

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By AFRO Staff

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By Kate Pickert for TIME

Those looking for someone to blame for the Gulf oil spill have zeroed in on BP CEO Tony Hayward. Although Hayward is now starring in a new contrite television commercial aimed at calming his critics, he's not likely to get the metaphorical target off his back anytime soon.

TIME's Elizabeth Dias filed this report:

BP's Tony Hayward is under arrest—staged citizen's arrest that is. Armed with imitation oil (aka chocolate syrup) and charges of criminal negligence, nearly 150 citizens  amassed in front of BP's Washington DC office this afternoon to deliver Hayward his very own prison jumpsuit.

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By Robert Gardner for Greenpeace

Today at high noon, Greenpeace, along with Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, Energy Action Coalition, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity and Hip Hop Caucus, articulated the outrage Americans everywhere are feeling by making a citizen’s arrest of BP CEO Tony Haward.

Today we mark the 46^th day of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, at this point the worst in American history. Millions of gallons of oil and toxic dispersants have entered the delicate ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, BP CEO Tony Hayward recently complained that he wants his "life back." He has since recognized the selfishness behind his statement, but what have we, the concerned citizens, realized since this incident?

What have we done to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?

Have we learned any lessons from this and other environmental catastrophes?

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By Randy Grice for The Famuan

Students and community members rallied on the north lawn of the School of Journalism and Graphic communication to learn how to create a greener environment.

The Hip-Hop Caucus, National Wildlife Federation, Green Coalition and FAMU Environment and Sustainability Council sponsored the event. Activists of the go green movement encouraged students to sign declarations of energy independence. The declarations were to promote a greener economy.

Ariana Marshall of the Hip-Hop Caucus expressed to event goers that the initiative was about more than the environment. “It’s not only about the environment, it’s about our energy source”, said Marshall.

At the event students were able to write letters to law makers, in particular, Senator George Lemieux, to express the need for clean energy legislation. Many of the letters written were asking for more money to be funded in to making greener jobs.

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By Patrick Rodgers for Connect Savannah

Created in 2004, the Hip Hop Caucus was the brainchild of minister and community activist Rev. Lennox Yearwood, who saw an opportunity to engage the hip hop generation in efforts to change social and political issues.

The organization is now more than 700,000 members strong, and has worked on campaigns for voter registration, against war in the Middle East, in support of post–Katrina aid and now to promote a green technology and environmental responsibility.

On April 17, Rev. Yearwood will stop in Savannah to be a special guest at the Green Summit hosted at the Coastal Georgia Center, while he is touring the country in support of the “Green The Block” initiative, promoting green job creation as a means to fight poverty in low–income communities.

We caught up with Rev. Yearwood last week by phone to talk about the environmental movement, rappers driving hybrids, the power of celebrity, and how people can recycle lives as well as materials.

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By Edwin Ortiz for Hip Hop DX

The Hip Hop Caucus, which played an integral role in T.I.’s “Respect My Vote” campaign, has started a new global awareness tour that will teach the general public about taking part in clean energy alternatives.

Along with information provided through round tables, lectures, and rallies, entertainers such as rapper Biz Markie, R&B singer D. Woods and actress Gloria Reuben will also take part in raising awareness.

Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., who serves as The Hip Hop Caucus’ president, explained the benefits for the people who attend one of the eight dates of the tour. “The Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Tour will amplify and unite the voices of young people, African Americans, the Hip Hop community, and the faith community, around the critical need for clean energy jobs now and a clean energy future for our country.”

Expecting to visit several cities, including Little Rock, AR, Columbus, OH, and Washington, DC, Yearwood Jr. added, “We anticipate this tour will go a long way to educate and mobilize communities for a brighter future through policy that will reduce poverty and pollution at the same time.”

For more information, visit here.

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By Reverend Yearwood for The Huffington Post

When African American voters and particularly young voters of color turned out in record numbers in 2008, their vision for change was historic. Heading into the 2010 mid-terms, there is plenty of speculation about who is not going to turn out to the polls this year, presumably because the economy is still bad, or because we have not seen enough progress from Washington. These naysayers, however, have not been talking with our communities. We were not playing around in 2008, and we are not playing around in 2010.

African American voters, according to a poll released yesterday by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, are eager to stay informed about the upcoming mid-term elections and between 74 and 80 percent of African American voters say they are very likely to vote.

Complementing the Joint Center's finding is another poll done by Frank N. Magid Associates in February of this year, which found that out of key progressive base voters - women, millennials (18 - 29 year olds), Generation X-ers, African Americans, and Latinos - African Americans are the most certain that they will be coming out to vote this fall, followed by Latinos.

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BET's Coverage of the Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Tour event in Washington, DC:

By Sia Tiambi Barnes for IAM

In part two of a look at events organized by the Hip Hop Caucus (click here for coverage of the HHC’s response to Haiti), IAM joined President and CEO, Reverend Lennox Yearwood; DJ Biz Markie; actress Gloria Reuben; Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN); and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson among others in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. It was the last stop on the Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour that was taken on a carbon neutral bus, included a team of college students, and was cosponsored byAlliance for Climate Protection’s Repower America campaign. HHC has adopted the green movement as one of their key platforms.

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By Patrick Gavin, Politico

DJ Biz Markie can spin some good tunes, but he took to Capitol Hill Wednesday to spin for the issue of clean energy.

"Y'all are warming up, D.C.!" proclaimed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "So I know the climate is changing, all over."

Markie joined such notables as Jackson, actress Gloria Reuben, Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Alliance for Climate Protection President and CEO Maggie Fox, Hip Hop Caucus President Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Black Leadership Forum President and CEO Gary Flowers for the conclusion of the Hip Hop Caucus' Clean Energy Now! bus tour, which has made stops in New Orleans, Indianapolis, Arkansas and Missouri.

Reuben said the goal was to "bring more awareness and mobilize more demographics on the issue of clean energy jobs and obviously the issue of passing climate legislation, sooner [rather] than later."

And how would Markie, whose signature song remains "Just A Friend," tweak that song's lyrics for this particular issue? Watch POLITICO's video coverage to find out.

The south side of the Hill's reflecting pool received a splash of color in more ways than one on Wednesday. Young, multicultural Hip Hop Caucus organizers poured out of their neon-colored tour bus that had taken them from Little Rock, Ark. to Washington D.C. in less than a week, holding signs and chanting, "Clean Energy Now!" to the beats of Biz Markie.

Led by Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., the 700,000 member-strong Hip Hop Caucus gained attention in 2004 with its national "Vote or Die" campaign and since then has teamed up with various celebrities to bring political awareness to its target demographic: urban African-American youth.

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By Wendy Rose Gould for Asylum

When we got wind of the Hip Hop Caucus and its crusade against climate change, we couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and let out a big fat "huh?"

Really, what on Earth could inspire Biz Markie, the rapper/comedian who blessed the world with sophisticated tracks like "Pickin' Boogers" and "Toilet Stool Rap," to care about clean energy?

The next step, naturally, was to find out for ourselves.

So when we showed up to the Steel Workers Union in Indianapolis, we were severely disappointed in the lack of Biz Markie on the premises. Turns out that the man who likes to show his tongue to the camera doesn't like to show his face at caucuses he supports. Go figure.

Still, we have to give a few props to the overall goal of the Hip Hop Caucus. The organization was founded in 2004 and headed by Reverend Yearwood. Since its debut, they've built a membership of over 700,000 people, creating field teams in over 30 states and 48 cities along the way.

According to Reverend Yearwood, the Hip Hop Caucus wants to "rebuild our economy, reclaim our community and restore our planet."

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By Mickey Woods for The Indiana Daily Student

On Monday afternoon, approximately 120 students showed up to see legendary hip-hop DJ Biz Markie perform in the IU Fine Arts Auditorium. After Markie’s 20-minute set and his departure, only half the room remained. The event was part of a bus tour called “Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now!” and was sponsored by the Hip Hop Caucus and Repower America. The tour aims to merge hip-hop and environmentalism through a panel discussion encouraging student involvement in a clean energy movement. The tour will end Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The panel discussion featured Reverend Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus; IU’s Director of the Office of Diversity Education Eric Love; sophomore Renee Davis; freshman Lauren Kastner and graduate student Juan Berumen. Biz Markie was also briefly on the panel.

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