Sun Valley Street Concert Raps Out Message of Hope

For Roy Rutledge, a 25-year-old ex-gang member, the message came through loud and clear in the pounding rhythms of the third annual Street Beat concert organized by Arleta Foursquare Church.

Rutledge, a former alcoholic and heroin user who left a recovery home two months ago, said he realized between rap performances Saturday by artists with names such as TRC the Ruthless Christian that, for the first time, he was in control of his life.

“What this says to me is that I have a choice,” the muscled, tattooed Rutledge said. He “was like the rest of the homeboys” on the streets of his Sun Valley neighborhood where the concert was held, he said.

“I didn’t know any better. We just gang-banged because everyone else was doing it. But it’s a personal choice, and I can choose not to do that,” he said, although he added that if he had to, he could still “do what you need to to survive” on the streets.

In between the performances, which featured lyrics with themes such as the deaths of innocents in drive-by shootings, about 2,000 bags of groceries, $28,000 worth of clothes and about 700 toys were given away to needy families, said Armando Portillo, Foursquare’s pastor and organizer of the event.

The items were provided by various Southern California ministries, which received donations from Vons and Ralphs supermarkets and other businesses.

Portillo said the crowds attending the concert have grown as times grow tougher in the surrounding neighborhood, around Wheatland Avenue near the Burbank Airport.

Three years ago the event drew 400 people. This year, about 3,000 dropped by the concert and street fair, which ran from 3 to 11 p.m.

“I’ve been here since 1974, and I’m not sure why, but things have gotten worse,” said Portillo, himself a former gang member and drug addict. “Some of these people live four families to a house.”

Although the concert focuses on San Fernando Valley youth, church groups attended from Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Diego, Downey and other Southern California cities.

Aaron Franklin, 28, of Palmdale, who said he performed under the name Muscle Head because he’s becoming “mentally strong,” said he hopes his Christian rap music will counter the messages from rap groups criticized for promoting gang values and degradation of women.

“The kids may not give their lives to Christ, but they’ll get something positive out of this,” he said. “Somebody’s giving their kids toys instead of offering them dope.”