Raekwon is reaching out and making a difference in the lives of
Hurricane Sandy victims affected in Staten Island. The Chef raised
awareness by holding a fundraiser at Club Jaguars 3 in Brooklyn last
Thursday night (December 13). The benefit generated money for the
residents of Staten Island who lost everything as a result of the
natural disaster. Most people often refer to Staten Island as the
“forgotten borough,” but Rae says he can’t sit back and do nothing for
those who were directly affected by the devastation of the storm.
“My city [Staten Island] got hit pretty hard, and not only my city,
but other parts of New York period. When it affected Staten Island, it
affected me even more because that’s where I am from. And it’s so crazy
that we got hit the hardest. So my heart and my mind is telling me, ‘Yo,
you can do something,’ you know what I mean? I just had to wait until I
was able to do it in a right way and create something and say, ‘Listen
I’m giving back.’”
Ghostface Killah joined Rae on stage to help spread the word to the
fans in the audience, as well as support his brother for the worthy
cause. In fact, several artists jumped on Twitter to show a tremendous
amount of love to Rae for his efforts to raise funds and awareness. Some
of the more famous tweets came from Busta Rhymes, Angela Yee, Billy
Danze, 2 Chainz, Peter Rosenberg and Fat Joe.
Rae expressed that President Obama’s visit to S.I. brought things to a
higher plateau. He added, “I don’t know the circumstances of what it
was, I just know that Obama did come, the President rather, came to
Staten Island when he had an opportunity and took a look. And that to
me; that eliminates everything else. That means that we was recognized
on the most highest scale for the President to come and check it out. So
that meant a lot to me.”
The Chef says he went to Staten Island to survey the damage for
himself and was deeply affected by it. He wanted to give back in his own
special way and didn’t want to simply provide his money to a charity.
“It would have been easy to give money to the Red Cross but that ain’t
what it’s about to me. So I wanted to really be more hands on and really
take a look inside.”
Proceeds from last night’s event will go to the Staten Island
families and the victims of Hurricane Sandy. “If you love people like I
love people and you realize how many people have helped my life, you
would consider doing stuff like this. It’s about being hands on. It’s
more than just the money, it’s the opportunity to touch people and talk
to them and get in their face and say, ‘Yo I feel this or yo I can help,
or yo I can’t help.’ It’s being a real person.” —
Chanel Clark (
@ChanellyJelly)