With his festival, Miami’s Papa Keith aims to curb gun violence and encourage voting
Papa Keith didn’t care about politics.
Voting, to him, was an afterthought — it wasn’t a priority for him. That changed with the 2016 election.
“I was just as disengaged as a lot of the youth and other people,” the Brooklyn-born Keith Walcott said.
During the 2016 election season, Papa Keith got involved with what’s now Florida Majority, a nonprofit that aims to build voting power in
Black and brown communities, and just started learning more about the problems that people in lower-income neighborhoods face on a day-to-day basis.
“I was trying to get the kids out to vote and excited about it. I wasn’t even on that myself but just through that journey, I became woke.”
The following year, the renowned radio personality from Miami’s 103.5 The Beat started the People Matter Fest. Initially more of a kid-centric community gathering, People Matter Fest has evolved into free concert that brings out some of the hottest names in hip-hop while rallying around nonviolence and the power of voting. On Sunday at the Ives Estates Park in north Miami-Dade, the fifth annual music festival will include performances by Offset, BossMan Dlow, ScarLip and Major Nine.
“We are asking things of the people, right?” Papa Keith said. “We want them to vote. We want them to put the guns down. We want them to do all these things to quell certain situations that are happening in their communities. But what are we giving the youth? What are we showing them? What are we giving them?”
The festivities actually kick off Saturday with a 24-hour ceasefire that begins at 7 p.m. On site, there will be a little bit of everything — a healthcare stand, vendors, a kid zone, food trucks, stations for people to discover which county resources are available to them and a booth for Just Vote Period, Papa Keith’s nonprofit that’s focused on changing the face of voter engagement.
“If you go into an event and a person wants to register you to vote, it’s usually — respectfully — a 90-year-old woman with a clipboard shoving it in your face,” Papa Keith said. “That is not sexy. That’s not where it’s at. And if this is your representation of getting younger folks connected with voting, this is horrible.”
Despite Papa Keith’s legendary radio career spanning more than two decades, he still found it difficult to rally political support.
“Think about it: 10 years ago, if you went to any politician, any government official, and said, ‘Hey, I wanna keep a free hip-hop concert in Liberty City, they’ll laugh at you’,” Papa Keith said.
So he had to prove himself. Again. And again.
And again. Eventually, Miami’s political arm began to take notice. One of the 2024 presenting sponsors is Miami-Dade County Commission Chair
Oliver Gilbert.
“We need to use every tool we have, take every opportunity we can to actually be in front of our kids talking about education, talking about stopping the violence because I think those things matter and I think those opportunities matter,” Gilbert said.
A key distinction: Gilbert was raised on hip-hop. To him, the stereotypes that often surround the genre and cloud people’s judgment are somewhat “ridiculous.”
“I come from a generation where you’re not a criminal if you like hiphop,” Gilbert continued.
At a time when Miami Beach has resolved to “break up” with spring break, a move criticized as racist, Papa Keith welcomes everyone to People Matter Fest. While he started the festival to cater to those from underprivileged communities in Miami-Dade, the radio icon wants all who step foot in his city to be safe.
“We always position it in a time where we can make the most impact,” Papa Keith said. “We don’t run away from doing it during times when kids are gonna be out of school and could be potentially idle and get into a lot of trouble. We actually specifically do it around those times to give them an option to do something that they’ll enjoy in a safe environment.”