Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Black Is Beautiful Ride

Milwaukee music stars WebsterX, Lex Allen and Zed Kenzo lead the 15-mile excursion Sunday.

- Piet Levy

Milwaukee music scene stars WebsterX, Lex Allen and Zed Kenzo are used to drawing crowds at festival stages and venues around town.

Now they’re bringing people to the streets.

Along with visual artist Darius Smith, who runs the Locals Gallery, the local musicians are behind the Black Is Beautiful Ride Sunday, a celebratio­n of Black lives and culture on the last day of Juneteenth weekend.

“When you say ‘Black is beautiful,’ I see confetti in my head and peoples’ arms up and they’re chanting,” said rapper WebsterX, real name Sam Ahmed. “This is the message that we’re trying to push.”

WebsterX was immersed in completing his second full-length album the week that George Floyd was killed in police custody in Minneapoli­s. On May 29, four days after Floyd’s death, the first protests swept Milwaukee, passing by WebsterX’s place. He’s been at several protests since, frequently streaming live videos from his social media pages.

“The first time I saw this giant fleet of protesting cars, that resonated with me. I was like, ‘OK, this is real. This is beyond Minneapoli­s,’ “WebsterX said. “I just naturally fell into a lot of anxiety in quarantine. I was feeling really good doing (the protests). I was not stressed. I was going to step the (expletive) up.”

The first week WebsterX joined the protests, he added 300 to 400 new followers to his social media accounts. “The majority of people were trying to figure out what was going on,” he said. “I realized I needed to continue using my platform.”

WebsterX came up with the idea of a Black Is Beautiful shirt, available now on WebsterX’s website (websterx

dotcom.com), with proceeds benefiting community organizati­ons Walnut Way and Leaders Igniting Transforma­tion. Designed by Among the Prime, the shirts express support for Black lives, communitie­s, businesses, artists, women, youth and members of the LGBTQ community.

Then during one of the protests, Enrique “Mag” Rodriguez, program director for Backline, a career advancemen­t program for local musicians, texted a flier for a Black Lives Matter bike ride in Los Angeles to WebsterX and Lex Allen, encouragin­g them to create their own event in Milwaukee.

The organizers merged the concept of the bike ride with WebsterX’s “Black Is Beautiful” message, and turned to Steve Roche, organizer for the Milwaukee Underwear Bike Ride, to help with routing.

“We have already realized in Milwaukee we can come together for the right reasons,” WebsterX said. “People have been putting in so much work, and I want them to enjoy themselves (Sunday). This is supposed to be a collective exhale.”

The 15-mile ride begins at 2 p.m. sharp Sunday from Kilbourn Reservoir Park in Riverwest, and will travel all over the city, WebsterX said. Participan­ts are asked to arrive at the park at 1 p.m. All forms of transporta­tion are allowed, but bicycles are encouraged. People who purchase the Black Is Beautiful shirt in advance will be able to pick them up at the park before the ride, and there’ll be bike repairs and tuneups on site. An after-ride event will take place at Gordon Park.

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsen­tinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJ­S.

Piet also talks concerts, local music and more on “TAP’d In” with Jordan Lee. Hear it at 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9), or wherever you get your podcasts.

 ?? RICK WOOD / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Milwaukee pop artist Lex Allen is one of the four primary organizers of Sunday’s Black is Beautiful Ride.
RICK WOOD / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Milwaukee pop artist Lex Allen is one of the four primary organizers of Sunday’s Black is Beautiful Ride.
 ?? MICHAEL SEARS / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Milwaukee rapper Zed Kenzo is also one of the primary organizers behind Sunday’s Black is Beautiful Ride, taking off from Reservoir Park at 2 p.m. Participan­ts are asked to arrive at 1 p.m. All forms of transporta­tion are allowed, but bikes are encouraged.
MICHAEL SEARS / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Milwaukee rapper Zed Kenzo is also one of the primary organizers behind Sunday’s Black is Beautiful Ride, taking off from Reservoir Park at 2 p.m. Participan­ts are asked to arrive at 1 p.m. All forms of transporta­tion are allowed, but bikes are encouraged.

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