By Staff Reporter

By day, he’s a rapper. But by night, well he’s a rapper then too. But in between all that rapping, recording artist T.I. finds time to encourage young people to vote, and he’s a headliner in a new hip hop voting campaign for 2008.

By Erica Lamar

T.I. will be working with the Hip Hop Caucus as a main spokesman for this year’s “Respect My Vote!” program, helping to encourage voters between the ages of 18 and 29 who have never attended college to become more active and erudite in the presidential race.

T.I. will be leading the campaign, along with several other celebrities, with a mission to “bring about the social, political and economic development and empowerment of all women, men and children throughout the world.” The Caucus will offer a national debate as an opportunity for everyone without a chance to speak objectively, which will give everyone nationwide the ability to work towards the elimination of poverty, the highest quality public education and the elimination of racism, racial profiling and police brutality.

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By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts

“You give up your right to vote, you give up your right to complain,” said [T.I.], in long cargo shorts and a “Respect My Vote” T-shirt. “You gotta understand how the game is played. In this country, the game is played by voting.”

T.I. was joined by Hip Hop Caucus’s president, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., Washington Wizard Etan Thomas and a host of lesser hip-hop luminaries ( Maino, Young Berg, Young Steff, Dawn from Danity Kane, go-go local heroes Mambo Sauce) to kick off the campaign. The push is aimed at 18- to 29-year-olds who aren’t in college – with emphasis on “the hip-hop generation,” said T.I. – “the most powerful generation and genre in the country. . . . Whether they like to admit it or not, we run this country.”

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By Sarah Lohman

WASHINGTON - The Hip Hop Caucus wants you to “Respect My Vote.”

The Caucus rolled out its theme for this year’s get out the vote campaign this afternoon at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. The focus is to get more 18 to 29 year olds who aren’t in college to vote in this year’s election.

Before the press conference, featured speakers arrived on the Green Carpet outside while hip hop music blared across the street. Celebs arriving on the carpet ranged from Washington Wizard Etan Thomas to Chicago rapper Yung Berg.

Hip hop artist T.I. is this year’s spokesman for the campaign. Although the caucus is non-partisan, T.I. asked the audience, “Do you believe in miracles?” Barack Obama, he said, is a miracle, and if he can get the presidency then anyone in the room could do anything.

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