As Andrew Williams grips the microphone, like many times before, his music and voice explode through the speakers.

But this time Williams is using hip-hop music not to rock a party or get the crowd going, but to help deserving students pay for college.

Williams, an SF State student who raps, DJs and promotes throughout the Bay Area, is performing on stage to raise money for a new cause, the Ambitions Scholarship Competition.

The scholarship is a new project that began this summer for the Collectiv, a company that promotes, distributes and markets hip-hop music. The scholarship awards students who demonstrate a desire to use their college education to give back to their community.

Williams, 22, an SF State junior majoring in urban studies, and his high school friend Eli Taylor, 23, an SF State alumnus, started the Collectiv in Oakland in 2001.

Because the Collectiv is a company whose target market is the young hip-hop community, it is important that the company remains financially viable while still being beneficial to the community and youth they serve, Williams said.

“Part of our mission statement is to empower the hip-hop community through education and entrepreneurship,” said Williams. “Going to college is an important part of life.

“We want to provoke people to think about what they really want to do, what really makes them tick.”

The scholarship is a direct extension of what the Collectiv is, said Taylor.
“This is just what we do and even if we pursue a commercial venture, we like to stick to the mission statement,” he said.

Their first event raised hundreds of dollars for the scholarship and featured karaoke singers alongside real hip-hop artists. Twenty percent of all ticket sales were donated to the Ambitions Scholarship Competition. The group hopes to raise $3,000 for their scholarship fund by December.

Taylor pitched the scholarship fund idea to his partners after hosting several successful nightclub events for Bay Area students attending school in Washington, D.C., who were returning home for winter break.

“The idea was to bring the excitement of homecoming at Howard (University) to the West Coast,” said Williams. Both Williams and Taylor attended school in Washington after graduating from high school.

The event was a big success but Taylor wanted to be able to have stronger and more direct ties with college students and colleges.
“The Ambitions events have allowed us to tie in sponsors while still doing youth outreach,” said Taylor.

In its early, unrefined phase, the Collectiv began as a group of friends with one client – Williams himself.

Williams has been a DJ and rapper for years and his ambition was to put his voice and music on record, he said.

“I wanted to put out my music,” recalled Williams. “We were our first guinea pigs. I was our first client.”

Now, the group works with such artists as Asa Tacone, Theory, and Bleez and has three subdivisions. The record label, Collectiv Records, a production and event planning company, Collectiv Arts & Entertainment, and a non-profit program called Collectiv Foundation, which aims to use hip-hop “as a catalyst for activism and advocacy for social change,” according to the group’s Web site.

“We give people the tools to do what they want to do, whether it is rapping, singing, event planning or activism,” said Williams.

So far, the three Ambitions events, which include a concert by Bay Area rapper Zion I, have raised $1,000. The SF State College of Extended Learning Music and Recording Industry Program has also offered to donate an undetermined amount of scholarship money. Collectiv is planning a final fundraising event in December.

“Even though we can’t give money to all who apply, we will be able to reach many and continue to build and collaborate,” said Taylor.

Anyone who will be attending an accredited college or university can apply by visiting www.collectiv.com and clicking on the “Ambitions Scholarship” link.