Fathers in Hip Hop 2020 Recap of Making an Impact

HIGH DESERT, CA—-While 2020 was a hard year for all of us in one way or another due to COVID-19, recording artist Justified Smith and his organization Fathers In Hip Hop set out to make a difference and became a source of hope and inspiration for many fathers and families across the country with their BLESSED IN THE MESS Campaign. 

In March 2020, after the devastation of COVID-19 hit the world, Fathers In Hip Hop wanted to bring some relief to fathers and families that had been affected financially by the pandemic. With so many out of work and small business owners being forced to shut down Justified decided to be a blessing to his social media following by disbursing $100 daily to random fathers through Cash App, a popular app used to transfer money.  

Everyday Justified would have various Hip Hop Influencers join him on Instagram Live to share insights and opinions evolving around the subject of Fatherhood. Among those influences were the likes of Freeway Ricky Ross, Bizzy Bone (Bone-Thugs-In-Harmony), Spider Loc (G-Unit) Kokane, Terminologyst (Good Daddy Gang) and many other. During the IG LIVE viewers were prompted to post their Cash App handles in the comments, and random men were selected and received cash app payments from Fathers In Hip Hop.  

While the cash app disbursements were small amounts ranging from $25 to $100, the heart behind the campaign was huge, and the feeling of being blessed randomly by complete strangers was priceless. Fathers In Hip Hop continued to Bless The Mess on IG LIVE all the way through Father’s Day 2020 with a minimum of $100 disbursed daily with money that was raised through donations from Fathers In Hip Hop’s Supporters.  

In July 2020, the giving shifted to a more up close and personal approach. Justified would go to Walmart and purchase $25 Gift Cards and hand them out to random fathers and families shopping for essentials. By September this random act of kindness grew into the BLESSED IN THE MESS WALMART GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY. With the support of DANIEL RAMOS, who at the time was campaigning for Adelanto City Council, Fathers In Hip Hop were able to raise $2,000 in which they purchased gift cards from the Walmart Adelanto in the amounts of $50 and $100 and distributed them all to fathers and families inside the Walmart shopping.  

In October, Fathers In Hip Hop took the giving back to Justified’s hometown of Compton Ca. and raised $3,000 including a $1,000 Donation from Aftermath Recording Artist Slim The Mobster and repeated the process of giving away the Walmart gift cards to random fathers and their families. In November 2020, the spirit of giving stayed alive and $2,200 was raised and given away in the same fashion at the Walmart in Victorville off of Armargosa Rd.  

For the Christmas season Fathers In Hip Hop decided to do something different with the money they raised and launched the BLESSED IN THE MESS CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY where they raised $2,700 and instead of taking the money to Walmart for gift cards, they took the money to the local Toy Store “Toys Of Eden” and purchased toys and electronics to give away to random fathers and families in the High Desert. Not only were the families that received the toys blessed, but “TOYS OF EDEN” was also blessed with the toy sales which brought much needed income to the store that had lost business during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  

Fathers In Hip Hop plan to bring the blessings into 2021 with a full calendar of events to bless fathers and their families during a time when everyone can use a blessings.