One of our own is being honored for the work he has done to help bring awareness to the issues of cancer. On May 17th 2012, the American Cancer Society is planning on honoring Kangol for the work he and the Mama Luke foundation has brought to fighting breast cancer. Kangol has been instrumental in bringing awareness to the disease by having hip-hop artists from coast to coast sign the Mama Luke pink t- shirt.

Why does this mean so much to Kangol? Kangol explains, “My manager’s name is Shaunda Lumpkin, and her mom is Gay Frances Lucas. We all called her ‘Mama Luke.’ Mama Luke was like a mother to me. And she had a three-year battle with breast cancer, and lost that battle a little over a year ago. My manager represents myself and a few other classic hip-hop artists, so it only made sense that we reached out to the classic hip-hop community and had them all support us as we walked for the American Cancer Society, in honor of Mama Luke, and to raise awareness and funds for this fight against this dreadful disease called breast cancer. We’ve been successful in doing that. The first year that we walked, myself, Roxanne Shantè, Dana Dane, Joe Ski Love, Force MDs, all of us got together and became one of the Top 10 fundraising teams in Newark, New Jersey for the American Cancer Society.”

Why focus on the hip-hop community, Kangol says, “It’s evident that whatever hip-hop touches, it changes. So it only makes sense that we get together and change this thing. It’s also statistically proven that African-American women are the most affected by this disease, yet they get less information. So we need to get this word out so that they can check themselves. Be it self-examination, or going to a doctor to get examined, and do our best to make sure we eradicate this. And so we are hitting that particular community.

“No one’s excluded from this list of who’s affected,” he continued. “But as I’ve been going through this, I’ve found out that a lot of hip-hop artists have gone through this. Lisa-Lisa is a breast cancer survivor. Queen Pen is currently going through it. Roxanne Shantè is a breast cancer survivor. And from Nice & Smooth, Greg Nice, his mom just beat breast cancer. Joe Ski Love’s whole family has been wiped out by breast cancer. I mean, it only makes sense that we all get together and do something to bring awareness and reduce the numbers as much as possible.”

Kangol has continued to gain support and has received support from not only the hip-hop community, but the recording industry like members of ASCAP. We all need to support the efforts to help fight this cause.

Official Mama Luke Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mamalukegfl

Join Mama Luke Walk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ETWhtdDMLU

"Walk the Walk" Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTU2Dov-GE