“#Seeinjustice” can be viewed in Union Square at the George Washington Statue and will run until October 31st. 

For more on Confront Art visit their website Here


For more about B. Morgan follow him on instagram Here

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Real Hip Hop didn’t go anywhere, and you’re gonna get a complete solid body of work anytime I drop, My ear for beats and eye for talent is impeccable. I’m one of the nicest out right now  period.

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LPS: What city are you from/ Where are you based now?

Hahn: I’m from Brooklyn. East New York actually. But I’ve been staying in the heights.  

LPS: What is your artist name? What is your real name? How did you get your artist name?
Hahn: My artist name is HAHN. Which is my last name on my fathers side. Plus with the exception of a close few, everyone calls me Hahn (Laughs) But my name is James Daniel Jeonsa Hahn 

LPS: How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you?

Hahn: I’d say my sound is that of someone who’s a student of the game. I grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, so all the sounds of those eras definitely can be found in my music for sure. It’s all organic influence. I don’t chase a particular sound. I just love music and if something sonically resonates and I think I can make something out of it or inject it into my style, I go for it.  

LPS: What’s one reason you are passionate about music and what inspires you?

Hahn: It’s in my DNA. Everyone in my family is musically inclined in some way or another. Whether it’s playing instruments, singing or rapping. My uncles were in the legendary Motown group The Jive Five. Wrote and performed the OG Nickelodeon theme song and everything. 

5. Who are some of your main musical influences? 

Hahn: Typical as it sounds, of course Jay Z. It’s a no brainer and the answer speaks for itself (laughs) but as far as main? I’d say Lupe Fiasco and Mac Miller. No question.  

LPS: Tell us the name of the project you are currently promoting? What inspired this project?

Hahn: In May, I dropped my project MAD MAN. It’s not inspired per se by the show, but Mad Men is my favorite television show of all time. Hands down. And it’s hard for me to choose definitively when it comes to things. Especially forms of art – so me saying it’s my favorite show ever really means something. But many of the themes, characters and emotions that the show puts you through definitely inspired the project in that sense. 
Plus it’s been something I was conceptualizing for so long. And nothing ever felt right. Then I went through a really painful breakup and my world just shifted. Shortly after me and my cousin Iceguy got a place together so we could have a base of operations for the music. I was suddenly locked in and the rest is history.  

LPS: Date that this project dropped or is set to drop?

Hahn: It dropped May of this year.   

LPS: What is this project about in your own words?

Hahn: It’s about everything (laughs) There are characters in Mad Men like Don Draper who’s cool, arrogant and a ladies man. But underneath it he has demons. A lot of them. Characters like Roger Sterling who’s sauve and had everything handed to him all his life. So at some point the feeling of working for something and being used to having things your way become an issue. There’s just so many layers. Poverty, then riches, women and life in the fast lane. All of those concepts and themes I worked into the project.  

 LPS: What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for? Include some dates if you have them.

Hahn: I’m working on two new projects. I keep fighting with myself over which will be released first. But I’ve been so focused on working MAD MAN and riding that wave. All the love has been crazy. And I wanna keep that momentum. But I’m also toying with the idea of just singles. Nice steady streams of singles before I drop the next project.   

LPS: What message do you hope fans take away from your music and from this project?

Hahn: That this was a labor of love. I always want people to hear my music and feel the time and attention that went into it. I really treat everything as a project. Sounds elicit emotion, you know? And for that reason I could have a beat that’s perfect for my 5th or 6th project that I may be crafting. I really do think that far ahead (laughs) and for that reason a lot of producers I’ve worked with in the past start to feel a way. So many of them are chasing that next big single. Or that song that will blow, and get upset when I don’t write and record to a fucking song in like less than a week. That works for some, and I’ve definitely done it before. However, for me – I’m more about telling the right story at the right time. On the right project.   

You can catch Hahn performing Saturday September 25th, 2021 alongside Projek Brickz, Destiny Jae and 100GrandRoyce At That Bar BK with sponsored giveaways courtesy of BratzLux Claim your complementary ticket Here

LPS:  Where can we follow you on social media? Include links.

Hahn: Hahn.codesix on IG and HahnCodeSix on Twitter

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While Brickz musical genre is rap/hip hop, his content is versatile with records speaking about day to day life issues we can all relate to
“I just love to write music i love the rush of killing a record or a verse. Im inspired by my fellow independent artist theres so many talented artist out there who deserve to shine.” Brickz says
While he draws his influence from artist like Eminem, DMX, Fallen in Reverse, Biggie & Tupac he still brings an original sound and flow reminiscent of old New York hip hop.
Currently Brickz is working on his 1st EP “Out of the Shadows” due out mid 2022 and acollaborative mixtape with fellow indie artist Hahn. “It was inspired by our mutual respect and love for one another. Hahn was there when my old group the GoonSquad was killing it on the music scene in the early 2000s so it’s like coming full circle working with the young lion whos now grown and making his own music.” -Brickz

When asked what we can look forward to from the next project Brickz says “Its about bringing real hip hop back, back to its essence where bars matter.”

The one thing Brickz wants his fans to take away is “We all go through similar issues in life and the goal is to survive by any means necessary” You can catch Brickz performing Saturday September 25th, 2021 alongside Hahn, Destiny Jae and 100GrandRoyce At That Bar BK with sponsored giveaways courtesy of BratzLux

Claim your complementary ticket Here

To keep up with Projeck Brickz follow him on Facebook and Instagram @projekbrickz

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The Audio Drop Kick Tour concert series is concert series showcasing the talent of today’s indie artist through a series of curated shows both in person and virtual designed to reach audiences across the nation while remaining compliant with New York City mandates. The kickoff is September 25th at venue, “That Bar ” in Park Slope Brooklyn. The talent roster includes R&B Songstress “Destiny Jae “, along with hip hop artists “100GrandRoyce“, “Brickz” and “Hahn“.

The event is free courtesy of Code Six Music Group with doors opening at 8pm. The evening will be hosted by media personality LadySteele and feature sponsored giveaways from BratzLux Boutique. You can get your shop on beforehand Here

You can grab your complimentary ticket Here.

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Dontay Davis sits in the home he shares with Nathaniel Davis, who obtained custody of him when he was 16. Davis is the oldest of four siblings and the only one who was not adopted when they were young. (Annie Mulligan/For The Washington Post)

HOUSTON — From the outside, the Hart family embodied the happy-ending adoption story.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart, a small-town Minnesota couple, took in two sets of siblings from the crowded Texas foster care system and branded themselves a free-spirited tribe that traveled to music festivals and protests delivering free hugs.

The charming mirage evaporated when Jennifer Hart drove the family SUV off a California cliff in March 2018 with her wife and their six children in the vehicle. The tragedy unraveled a decade-long nightmare of alleged abuse and malnourishment that neighbors and teachers feared was flourishing behind closed doors despite multiple warnings to child welfare agencies told in news accounts of the Hart family’s foster care tale was the story of a brother left behind, a biological older sibling who, instead of being adopted, spent eight years in the Texas foster care system enduring a far more common tragedy.

Eight-year-old Dontay Davis acted out violently when the state removed him and his siblings from their home in 2005. In the years that followed, he was set on a path that advocates call the foster care-to-prison pipeline: separated from his brothers and sister, heavily medicated, shuffled between foster homes and shelters, institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital and placed for years in a restrictive treatment center. By age 19, Dontay was in a Texas prison serving three years for robbery.

It’s a path that many foster children take, according to the Juvenile Law Center, particularly those like Dontay — black boys separated from their siblings and diagnosed with mental illnesses.

According to thousands of pages of Dontay’s child welfare records, which he obtained and shared with The Washington Post, the Harts chose not to adopt him because of his behavioral problems. But as he bounced through the child welfare system, Dontay said, he never gave up on reuniting with his siblings — Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera — ages 4, 2 and 1 when he last saw them.

Abuse, neglect and a system that failed: The tragic lives of the Hart children

He didn’t learn of their deaths until he was released from prison in October 2018, more than six months after their fate had been widely reported in the news. He didn’t cry when he found out — he just went cold.

“That was the last little hope I had in my life, you know? I had that hope that I was gonna see my little brothers again; one day we gonna kick it,” he said. “I used to cry sometimes thinking what we could be doing, growing up.”

Images of Dontay Davis and his siblings, taken before he was separated from them. (Annie Mulligan/For The Washington Post)

‘Behavior challenges’

Dontay’s mother, Sherry Hurd, struggled with long-term drug use and was in and out of the house where her children lived with her partner. Jeremiah was born with cocaine in his system in 2004. Hurd tested positive for cocaine again after Ciera was born in 2005.

In their first foster home, Dontay lashed out and threatened his younger brothers, according to his records. His foster mother reported that his eyes rolled back in his head when he was angry. After just seven days, he was separated from his siblings and soon was placed in a psychiatric hospital.

He spent three weeks in the facility, where he says he was “chemically restrained,” or sedated, multiple times with a shot that rendered him unconscious. Dontay then was moved to an emergency shelter before being placed in a therapeutic foster home for children with severe behavioral problems.

He briefly reunited with his siblings in 2006 when they were sent to live with their aunt Priscilla Celestine. Dontay felt happy again — but it didn’t last long.

After six months, a caseworker made a surprise visit to the home and found the children alone with their mother, from whose custody they had been removed. They were taken away on the spot.

Celestine appealed the decision, but Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera were soon adopted by the Harts and were taken to Minnesota, thousands of miles away from home — and from Dontay.

Days after he was separated from his siblings for the last time, 10-year-old Dontay tried to commit suicide by strangling himself with a belt at a therapeutic foster home.

It is common for children experiencing family separation to act out, said Will Francis, the executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Labeling those children as having “behavior challenges” can set them on a path that is hard to escape, he said.

Dontay received several mental-health diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder. He was put on a revolving list of heavy psychotropic medications — Depakote, Risperidone, Clonidine, Trazodone, Cogentin, Tenex, Concerta, Adderall — many of them concurrently.

One judge’s tough approach to foster care: It’s only for the really extreme cases

Michael Schneider, a retired Texas child-welfare judge, recalls children describing fleeting meetings with doctors and sometimes not knowing which medications they were taking. He and a fellow researcher at Columbia University have found many Texas foster children who were prescribed two or more medications simultaneously for the same disorder.

“You’re 9 years old and get a bipolar diagnosis by someone who has barely seen you, and then you’re 16 and it’s still on your record,” Schneider said. “Once they get diagnosed with something like this, it’ll stay on their record and show up on their permanency reports, and it’s assumed to be true.”

Media relations manager Patrick Crimmins said the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has been “extremely aggressive monitoring psychotropics,” with use dropping from 30 percent of children in the state’s care in 2005 to less than 15 percent in 2017, the most current data.

‘Watch out for your brothers’

In January 2007, Dontay was placed in a nonprofit residential treatment center for troubled children in Houston called Serenity Place, where he would stay for almost four years.

It was much more restrictive than a home placement, with staff members documenting details such as the number of clean socks in his drawer and whether he brushed his teeth.

Dontay took out his frustration on the other children. He got into fights, wandered the halls during class or left campus entirely. Like many children in foster care, he fell far behind in school, reading at a fourth-grade comprehension level in ninth grade.

“It wasn’t fun; it wasn’t life,” Dontay said.

He recalls seeing other children visiting with relatives and receiving Christmas gifts and wanting the same. He asked his caseworker about his siblings nearly every month. He pleaded for a visit with them. He requested to see photos and asked whether they could talk on the phone. He wanted to hear about what they were up to. He missed them.

The separation was hard in part because Dontay blamed himself for it. He recalls that when the children were put into state custody, his mother told him, “You’re the big brother; you have to watch out for your brothers.”

But when his caseworkers finally asked Jennifer and Sarah Hart whether Dontay could have contact with his siblings, they said no.

“They kept saying the foster parents didn’t want me to have no contact,” Dontay said. “I thought, ‘Is it because I’m bad?’ ”

More than half of U.S. foster children with siblings were separated from at least one of them, according to estimates.

There have been efforts to stem the separations. In Texas, 54 percent of sibling groups were placed together in 2008; a decade later, that rose to 65 percent, according to state data. Siblings who are placed together have better mental-health outcomes and school performance. A 2018 Penn State study found that Texas siblings placed together had fewer “non-progress” placement disruptions for reasons such as incompatibility with the caregiver.

In the fall of 2010, 14-year-old Dontay was sent to live with Debra Roberts, who has fostered dozens of high-risk children. He still acted out, but he gradually bonded with “Miss Debra” as she talked to him and helped him with his reading. Sometimes he cried about how much he missed his family, especially his siblings, Roberts said.

“I wouldn’t say his behavior was extreme,” she said. “You have to get behind it to see why he behaves that way every day. And for him, it was the hurt and the pain of not being with his siblings.”

Dontay Davis stands next to Nathaniel Davis, who took custody of him at age 16, outside of their home in Houston on Nov. 21. (Annie Mulligan/For The Washington Post)

The forgotten children

When Dontay was 16, Nathaniel Davis, his mother’s partner, obtained custody of him. Being reunited was a big relief for Dontay, but by then, he was already associating with people in gangs and getting into serious trouble. He was arrested in connection with robbery three years later. His son, Donyae, was born while he was incarcerated.

Dontay’s story is a common one for foster children in the United States, said Sandy Santana, the executive director of Children’s Rights, a nonprofit organization that has sued more than a dozen states for failures of their child welfare systems.

Research has linked changes in caregivers to child delinquency, even for children not in foster care, said Dustin Pardini, director of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. The longitudinal study of more than 1,000 boys from Pittsburgh found that those who experienced two or more changes in their primary caregiver before age 10 were significantly more likely to engage in serious violence during adolescence — including homicide, robbery and aggravated assault — than those who did not experience multiple caregiver changes.

Dontay changed placements seven times before he was 10 and 11 times total.

“Hundreds and hundreds of kids I’ve met in my work fit these types of experiences,” Santana said. “All of that compounds their trauma, and when that trauma goes untreated, the very behavior that’s symptomatic of the trauma they’ve experienced gets criminalized.”

The opioid crisis is straining the nation’s foster-care systems

Children’s Rights filed a class-action lawsuit against Texas in 2011 for its treatment of children who were in the state’s care long-term, asserting that children were routinely moved around, overmedicated, and physically and sexually abused by caregivers and other foster children.

In 2015, a federal judge ruled that Texas had violated those children’s rights. The judge said children were “more damaged than when they entered” state care. She ordered sweeping reforms, including a reduction of caseworkers’ caseloads.

“In Texas, the judge called these kids ‘the forgotten children, the kids that even God has forgotten,’ ” Santana said. “There’s no real sustained public awareness about these systems — how broken they are, and what they do to kids.”

Last year, Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act to limit the use of group care settings, set new standards for residential treatment centers to receive federal funding, and make more money available for prevention services to keep children with their biological families. None of Texas’s residential treatment centers meet the new standards yet. The state has applied for an extension until 2021.

Crimmins of the DFPS said the agency has long been targeting sibling separations and the use of psychotropic drugs for improvement and that, in addition to Child Protective Services, many private providers — including placement agencies, emergency shelters and residential treatment centers — share the burden of ensuring that children are safe.

“The plight of the children and young people in the Texas foster care system is scrutinized constantly, and rigorously, not only by the thousands of child welfare professionals who have dedicated their lives to this work, but also by the Texas Legislature and Governor [Greg] Abbott,” Crimmins said.

But Francis, who was a CPS caseworker before his role at the National Association of Social Workers, said the system is designed to focus primarily on situational permanency — the child’s immediate needs, such as food and shelter — and less on relational permanency, which provides a child with lasting bonds to others the child can trust, a focus that fails those like Dontay, who are in care for extended periods.

“This system did not prepare him for life after care. They thought, ‘How do we house him while we have him, meet his most basic needs for food and shelter?’ And no one thought about how he would be as a 19-year-old,” Francis said.

On a hot day in July 2018, Nathaniel, with Dontay’s girlfriend and son in tow, visited the East Texas prison where Dontay had been for more than two years. The family had been grieving for his siblings since they found out about their deaths but decided not to tell Dontay until he was out of prison. They were worried about how he would react, and they didn’t want to jeopardize his chances of coming home in a few months.

The sun-parched prison grounds were surrounded by barbed-wire fencing. The mostly black and brown prisoners, clad in white, shuffled in a line to the visitor’s area.

Dontay got to spend about two hours with his family, whom he hadn’t seen for months. Between catching up with family news and playing with his toddler son, Dontay told them something he had repeated a lot over the years — a mantra of sorts to get him through some of the hardest moments: When he got out of prison, he told them, he was going to find Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera.

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Christmas has apparently come early twice in 2019, because Popeyes just dropped another new menu item to sink our teeth into. Judging by the description, it’s bound to cause just as much craze as the recently re-released chicken sandwich.

America, meet Popeyes new Bourbon Fudge Pie: the sweet treat we didn’t know we needed to wash down our salty chicken delight. A smooth, boozy filling adorns a flaky pastry crust. This work of wonder is topped off with a dollop of chocolate whipped cream. Best of all, it’s available for only $2.49 a slice.

But let’s backtrack for a minute. For all those who haven’t heard the Popeyes debacles of late, here’s what you need to know about the fried chicken-related goings on of the past few months. Firstly, even Oprah couldn’t get her hands on Popeyes iconic chicken sandwich when it first dropped, and her best friend Gayle tried 15 times in one day but failed. After spending “countless hours” trying to get his hands on those buttery buns but also coming up short, one man sued the Louisiana chain for “deceptive business practices.” Another crazed customer went even farther in his drastic approach to obtain one of the sold-out menu items, allegedly pulling out a pistol.

Though the world appeared to have spun right off of its axis, order was finally restored to the universe when the crispy chicken delight returned to Popeyespermanent menu following a nearly three-month hiatus. (Justin Bieber subsequently shared the very unpopular opinion that the sandwich is “not worth the hype,” and no one cared.)

Back to this exciting new chocolatey treat, though: It looks so good our queen O may very well add it to her just-released list of favorite things. But ladies and gentlemen, don’t get too attached. According to Chew Boom, this menu addition is seasonal. Here’s hoping Oprah gets her hands on a slice before it’s gone

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