Press Release Body = Toronto -- Hollywood heavyweights Robert Forster, N\'Bushe Wright and Leon have collaborated with Canadian music personality Raoul S. Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra) for the highly anticipated debut audio PSAs of Lyrical Knockout Entertainment\'s \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' high school and college radio campaign.
Juneja, considered \"One of the entertainment industry\'s most vocal and effective campaigners\" (FilmInk), launched the \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' campaign February 2004 with support from \"America\'s greatest crime writer\" Elmore Leonard (Newsweek), also teaming up with Leonard\'s publisher HarperCollins for \"Get Shorty\" and \"Be Cool\" book giveaways across Canada and Southern California campuses.
Featuring their catch phrase \"Put down the gangsta rap CD and pick up the gangster fiction novel,\" Juneja even encouraged music biographies along with Leonard\'s movie adaptations through his \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' campaign to youth otherwise uninterested in reading, soon receiving the support of MTV Books and Adidas Canada to launch North America\'s largest giveaway tribute to rap icon Jam Master Jay in September 2004.
An April 2005 \'VerveGirl\' Canadian youth magazine profile of the \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' campaign later took Juneja\'s reading list and writing workshop elements into classrooms for the first time, with VerveGirl\'s 180,000 bilingual student readers taking part in a \'Rap Literacy\' themed poetry contest across 1,600 Canadian schools, sponsored by Canada\'s Indigo-Chapters bookstores and Juneja\'s award-winning Lyrical Knockout Entertainment label.
\"Good move Deejay Ra, I\'m pleased to join my pal Elmore Leonard in supporting your campaign,\" wrote actor Robert Forster in an initial \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' endorsement letter. Forster\'s former co-stars in over 100 productions since 1962 have included Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve, Vince Vaughn, Naomi Watts, Bill Duke, and most memorably Pam Grier in Quentin Tarantino\'s \"Rum Punch/Jackie Brown,\" which gave Forster his 1998 Oscar nomination.
\"Reading is important and fun, whether it\'s \'Blade\' or any book from your favorite movie,\" explains actress N\'Bushe Wright in her PSA recording with Juneja. Ms. Wright\'s former co-stars in over 25 productions since 1992 have included Michael Rapaport, Chris Tucker, Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez, Roger Guenveur Smith, and most recently Lisa Raye in Neema Barnette\'s \"Civil Brand,\" which was featured in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
\"Whether it\'s Tupac or any book of your favourite musician,\" adds actor Leon in his \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' college radio PSA. In addition to his role opposite Adewale Agbaje and Eamonn Walker in the first season of HBO\'s \"Oz,\" Leon also co-starred in \"Above The Rim\" with rap icon Tupac Amaru Shakur, whose official \"Makaveli-Branded\" education fundraising clothing line recently featured Juneja in a Tupac Scholarship Fund print PSA advertisement.
More details about Robert Forster or Leon available via RobertForster.com and JustLeon.com respectively. And be sure to visit GodsForgottenHouse.com to view an advance trailer for N\'Bushe Wright\'s next film from \"Rhyme And Reason\" producer Daniel Sollinger.
2025
