AS220 IMPACT: Kareem Caines

Kareem Caines
Hip Hop Artist, Graphic Designer, Videographer
Former AmeriCorps VISTA & Founder of Hip Hop 220

I'm from New York City. I came to Providence to go to school at Johnson and Wales University. I found out about AS220 in 1999 because a classmate at JWU was volunteering there. I started volunteering myself, doing the door, and eventually put on a monthly poetry/ hip-hop show called "Respiration."

Later, I became an AS220 employee with AmeriCorps VISTA. I would go with Bert when he taught classes at the Rhode Island Training School, and I'd end them with a hip hop part  - a cypher. It turned into my own class that I called "Hip Hop 220." We ended up working with over 200 youth a week at the highest point.

I learned so much from AS220: how to put a program together, how to complete projects, how to work with other people. I learned how to perform onstage, I learned how to record ... on a 4-track! AS220 is the foundation for a lot of what I do today. I'm grateful for the time I was there. It really developed me as an artist.