ENGLEWOOD — Losing friends to gun violence and becoming more and more fed up with the city’s murder rate led local teen rapper Dorian “DA” Adams to create an annual anti-violence event.
The 15-year-old, who has been rapping since he was 6, held the first “This Is Life: Stop The Violence" event four years ago, saying he was looking for a platform to spread his message.
From noon-4 p.m. March 25, he’ll put on the fourth "This Is Life: Stop The Violence" event at the Salvation Army Adele & Robert Red Shield Center, 945 W. 69th St. Chicago native NiaKay, from Lifetime’s season 2 of “The Rap Game,” will co-host with local talent T-Star. Some 300 people are expected to attend.
The event will feature more than 20 young performers such as Dance Force, Insanity, Black Girls Can Fly, Deja and more. Advance tickets are $10 and can be bought through Eventbrite. They are $15 at the door.
DA first performed his “This Is Life” song at age 11.
"First it’s the beef that gets us shot and killed, sometimes over shoes, are ya’ll for real so I just stay in the house and be chill...why you doing it? I’m just curious ... stop the violence because it’s making people like us very furious…"
DA grew up in Kenwood, but has family from Englewood. He’s a freshman at King College Prep. For him and his friends, violence is a part of their everyday conversations. He said they don’t get defeated or sad, but instead discuss their future plans.
“I lost friends to gun violence — it hurts,” he said. “Losing friends makes you rethink your whole process of what you really want to do. All of our daily conversations are about planning what we’re going to do once we make it out— not if we make it out.”
“We always say when we make it out because I feel like putting the word ‘if’ on it means you’re basically saying ‘I might make it out.’”
DA said his hope is that the event sends the message that Chicago isn’t the war zone media outlets tend to present in their coverage.
“The goal is to show that there is more than violence in the city of Chicago,” DA said. “The media shines more light on the violence than they do on the different talents and festivals that we got going on.”
DA promotes his mission through his clothing line year-round. The “This Is Life” brand was founded in 2013. He sells "This Is Life" merchandise like T-shirts and hoodies. His gear will be sold at the event.
His mother, Natalie Manning, said she does most of the organizing and planning, but DA steps up when it’s time.
This year’s event will be a little different, Manning said. There will be professionals present to share briefly what they do, and then later in the day the teens can have one-on-one meetings with them. Attendees won’t leave empty-handed either because there will be resources for them, Manning said.
“This is a perfect setup because they’re going to come out and see their peers,” she said.
Like her son, Manning also sees the event as a way to focus the attention on the good things coming from the South Side.
“What I’m looking to do is highlight the youth who are doing positive things in the city,” she said, adding that there will be other teen designers present. “These kids could be doing something else with their time, but they're putting it toward the show.”
She's also working toward starting a nonprofit that will work with young people after school.
