Dates are subject to change. Email
for booking information. Also check out the new
7P IN THE NEWS
Aqui Milwaukee
Road to the Top - 9 Hot Artists
June/July 2008
With Roberto Torres, Nakia D. Hood and Delvyn Crawford, Dredknox is the top act of 7th Platoon Entertainment, an independent label led by Torres. Dredknox, whose songs talk about street life but don't glorify violence, just released a new mixtape, "The Time Is Now", which you can download by going to myspace.com/dredknox.
Aqui Milwaukee
Latino Performers Come Alive!
August/September 2007
Music, drama and dance abound in Southeast Wisconsin's bustling and talented Latino community, and the next few pages prove it. Aqui Milwaukee presents local Latino performers spanning various artistic disciplines and genres. Enjoy!
Dredknox
Dredknox is the antidote to the thuggish hip-hop music that legions of youth are into. Puerto Rico-born Roberto Torres (pictured center with Delvyn Crawford, left, and Nakia Hood) writes some of the group's original music, which varies from harder rap to more soulful, sensual tracks. Torres, an ex-gang member, says their music shies away from lyrics that demean women. "I don't come down on other groups who do that," says Torres, head of the independent label 7th Platoon Entertainment. "But we're all married and trying to move forward with our vision of giving hope." (RV) Contact: www.myspace.com/dredknox
EM Fellowship
Seeing a need to minister to people of multicultural backgrounds, Roberto Torres started a church in 2002 that fuses hip-hop, reggaeton and traditional gospel hymns to create a worship service for the 21st century. "Especially brown and blacks, we tend to enjoy a more lively and gospely type of service," Torres says. "So we needed to update the worship." Everlasting Mercy Fellowship's service includes rappers who come up and rap about heaven, hell, Jesus and salvation. Antonio Gonsalez, a local DJ, is a regular member of the group. (RV) Contact: www.emfellowship.org
Tampa Bay Online
Show Aims To Ease Back To School
By GEOFF FOX gfox@tampatrib.com
Published: Jul 29, 2005
TRILBY - A back-to-school concert featuring Christian rap artists from Milwaukee and around the area will be at Trilby United Methodist Church on Saturday.
The free concert is from 5 to 8 p.m. The church is at 37504 Trilby Road, just west of U.S. 98. The Greater Trilby Community Association is organizing the event with the church.
Association Chairman Denny Mihalinec said the event is free, but people are asked to bring school supplies for children around Trilby, Lacoochee and Trilacoochee.
Roberto I. Torres, president and chief executive officer of 7th Platoon Entertainment, which represents the Milwaukee acts performing Saturday, said he has known the Rev. Juan Garay of Trilby United Methodist for years. Garay was raised in Milwaukee.
"We did a lot of ministry together," said Torres, who also performs as hip-hop artist Top Rank. "We've been down several times. He told us there was a need, so we decided to take a road trip."
Torres said 7th Platoon Entertainment was founded in his basement in 1998. The label now represents several artists who "spread the gospel through the language of hip-hop," says the label's Web site, www.7thplatoon.com.
Rock and rap artists from around the region also will perform, Mihalinec said. For information, call Mihalinec at (352) 518-0980 or visit www.eastpascosteps.org.
Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217.
Tampa Tribune
Free Back-To-School Concert On Tap Today
Published: Jul 30, 2005
TRILBY - A back-to-school concert featuring Christian rap artists from Milwaukee and this area will be held at Trilby United Methodist Church today.
The free concert is from 5 to 8 p.m. The church is at 37504 Trilby Road, just west of U.S. 98. The Greater Trilby Community Association is organizing the event with the church.
Denny Mihalinec, association chairman, said people who attend are asked to bring school supplies for children from Trilby, Lacoochee and Trilacoochee.
Roberto I. Torres, president and chief executive officer of 7th Platoon Entertainment, which represents the performers from Milwaukee, said he has known the Rev. Juan Garay of Trilby United Methodist for years. Garay was raised in Milwaukee.
Rock and rap artists from across the region also will perform, Mihalinec said. For information, call Mihalinec at (352) 518-0980 or go to www.eastpascosteps.org.
Geoff Fox
105.3 The Fish
Danny Clayton Blog
Friday, April 29, 2005
Bold Truth 2
I was on fumes yesterday morning---so couldn't write about Wednesday's Bold Truth event at US Cellular---but I sure wanted to.
Almost 9,000 attended, most of them kids. It was really a great event, from local hip-hop group Dredknox all the way through the end of the evening when Superchic[k] closed out the show, amazing things happened. I caught Jeremy Chapman from Brookfield AOG on the way out yesterday and he told me they estimated 700 people either accepted Christ or made recommitments. 700! Hey, it could have been 7 and been an success, but imagine the sheer number of changed lives who now are going to make a difference. Wow.
We always pray before The Fish Morning Show, and mine yesterday was for the legions of youth pastors across SE Wisconsin who now will go to work with these kids to make sure they remain grounded and connected.
Personal highlights from the evening: taking Sawyer, my 13 year old son who was able to see other on-fire kids celebrating their joy. Another was a simple moment I witnessed from my seat after Josh McDowell rolled a clip from The Passion Of The Christ. Three rows in front of me I saw a 18-ish woman wiping tears from her eyes after seeing Jesus on the cross. It was pure and lovely and I admired the moment.
I'd never seen Superchic[k] and was blown away. Musically, they're brilliant---from a lyrical standpoint, there might be none more effective in reaching a young woman's heart for Christ. From an entertainment standpoint, they were amazing. If you've seen the Fish Fest posters we handed out there, you know they'll be back at Fish Fest in August. Don't miss them---they've got the potential to steal the show.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Bold Truth
I rarely watch TV. I suppose it's because my morning starts at 2am and my day ends at 7pm when I go to bed. It seems the stronger my walk with God becomes, the less I find on television that even begins to pass the Philippians 4:10 filter (look it up, it's great). I care very little for who gets voted off the island, what Paris Hilton is doing, and since Jesus never shows up on Joan Of Arcadia, I gave up on that show after a half dozen viewings.
My morning routine has me arriving here at 330am for what is called 'show prep', culling various news sources for idea starters for The Fish Morning Show. To keep me company, I've got The Fish on in the background, but I also have the TV going. Inevitably, some sort of 'Girls Gone Wild' pay-per-view commercial comes on. I shake my head at these commercials, and I can only imagine what the parents of these nutballs think when they either see or hear about their daughters and what they're caught doing on camera on vacation. It's disgusting.
Where were their parents, by the way? Too busy at the country club, their 70 hour a week jobs, their quest for worldly goods, their own lives? What produced the hole in their souls that makes them seek approval by baring and showing all with little forethought or consideration? My wife often asks the same thing----'where are their parents?'.
That's why tonight's Bold Truth event at US Cellular is so important. That's why all the parents who laid out the money for the tickets so their kids could learn to strap on a little armor have my respect. That's why bands like Dredknox and Superchic(k) have my respect---they all could be doing something else that is far more acceptable to the world, that most certainly pays better---but yet they do their ministry in a quiet and Jesus-like manner. Read the interview with Superchic(k) in the new CCM, you'll see these young hipsters who give God all the glory and are UNAFRAID to live out loud. They rock.
Girls Gone Wild has taught me to stay close to my kids, so much so that I'm sure someday I'll drive 'em nuts, but not until I help provide that firm foundation that will prevent them from being in places where things like that happen.
