Chris Rolle, also known as "Kazi" (a shortened form of "Kharma Kazi"Art Start Trustees
, accessed online 17 April 2007.), is a community activist, rapper, and founder of a record company. Beginning as a teen, he has been involved in New York City's Art Start program. In 1999, he founded the Hip Hop Project. He is a subject in the film, ''The Hip Hop Project'', which was produced by

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series '' Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero ...

and

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album '' All Hail the Qu ...

. Since June 2004, he has been a member of Art Start's Board of Trustees. He is a motivational speaker on men's issues in the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community. He is founder and co-

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of One+One Records and a hip hop performer.

Early life

He was born in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in ...

; since 1990 he has lived in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

.''The Hip Hop Project'' (documentary film), 2006. In 1994, while in high school, Rolle began an involvement with Art Start as a student in the Media Works Project. He graduated in 1996 from the New York City Public Repertory Company (an alternative arts high school), where he won the Playwrights Competition.

Career

Art Start

In 1997, he taught the Media Works Project curriculum to teenagers coming out of

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

prison, and in 1998 he led Art Start's anti-racism public service announcement (PSA) project, which received coverage from the Bravo cable network in the documentary ''Fire, Risk and Rhythm.'' Since June 2004, he has been a member of Art Start's Board of Trustees.

Hip Hop Project

Rolle founded the Hip Hop Project in 1999, with Art Start's support, and which led to collaboration with

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

and won him praise from people like Doug E. Fresh. According to Cassandra Lizaire, the project "has been encouraging impressionable young minds towards meaningful and positive musical messages ever since." He was a subject of the film, ''The Hip Hop Project'' in which

and

were the Executive Producers. It was filmed between 2001 and 2005, and was shown at the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

during "VH1 Hip Hop Honors Week" in 2006. The film debuted at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was ...

. He was with the project until September 2003. He was succeeded in his role at Art Start by one of his own students, Diana "Princess" Lemon.

''A Brooklyn Story''

He was director, actor, and writer for Tomorrow's Future theatre company; his work there included the play ''A Brooklyn Story''.

Musical career

He founded One+One Records in September 2003. One of his good friends Nasir Jones, aka Nas, an American rapper who helped Rolles establish a career as the rapper, Kazi.

Awards

His awards include a Governor's Citation, and the CBS Fulfilling the Dream Award for his play, ''A Brooklyn Story''.

Notes

External links

Official site
* , accessed online 17 April 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolle, Chris Hip hop activists American dramatists and playwrights American male stage actors Rappers from New York City Musicians from Brooklyn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Bahamian singers People from Nassau, Bahamas Bahamian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American rappers