Stars rap for museum

2008-08-26 10:27

Bill Draper

Kansas City - Hip-hop stars Kanye West, Akon and T-Pain are performing on a compilation CD to benefit a museum devoted to baseball's segregation era Negro Leagues.

The CD, titled True to the Game, is to be released in the United States on October 21. It is the first of three that will be made to benefit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

"There are some very stark parallels between hip-hop and the Negro Leagues," said museum spokesperson Bob Kendrick.

"Neither one was expected to survive. But here we are, how many years later, and it's one of the most influential types of music out there."

"Nobody gave the Negro Leagues a chance, but it lasted 40 years."

The Negro Leagues were a group of leagues for black players that grew strong in the early 1920s, but had largely petered out by the early 1960s as Major League Baseball was integrated.

Along with helping pay operating costs at the museum, much of the money from the CD will go toward the $15m Buck O'Neil Education Centre, named for a long-time Negro League player who went on to become the first black coach in Major League Baseball.

Musicians on the CD include T-Pain, Rick Ross and Tay Dizm; GLC featuring Kanye West; Chingy featuring Ziggy Nina; Raiyn featuring Talib Kweli; Young Cash featuring Akon; Sam Christ featuring Big Boi of Outkast; Tone BlacQ, featuring Snoop Dog; and Yung Joc.

- AP