Rap Safely Please

"Last summer, it seemed to me that every day I looked in the paper or watched the news, someone lost their lives in a car crash," says TaraHungerford. "It was everywhere."

But all those stories in the news clearly aren't dissuading enough teenagers from driving dangerously. B.C. youth aged 13 to 21 were involved in 41,530 crashes killing 82 young people in 2002 alone. In the past five years 419 youth have died in car wrecks.

So Hungerford, a film director, grew excited last summer when she heard a demo tape of two little-known hip-hop artists from the North Shore -Distance and Kyle. "Their music gave me goosebumps. I knew I could make a difference."

Almost a year after her epiphany, the auditorium of the Croatian Cultural Centre, off Commercial Drive in Vancouver, is filled with young people. Girls in tight, low-cut jeans smile shyly at boys in baggy pants and baseball caps tucked to the side. A banner on the wall reads, "Carcrashes are the number one killer of youth."

"Every cross on that wall is a person who is no longer with us," says Nick Geer, president of ICBC pointing to rows of white paper crosses taped to the wall.

The crowd is gathered for the video release of "I Thought of You," sung by Distance and Kyle, directed by Hungerford. Kyle Paracy, 24, wears a white hooded sweatshirt and has a shaved head. Distance, or David Knill, 24, has short black hair and looks clean cut. He plays the keyboard while Paracy raps.

"Forever. I never thought, just like you. A joy ride can destroy lives: that's just not true. To help them just tell them; truthfully, yourintent. You know; too many people die driving reckless, some crashes start with whose car's the fastest, let's see what its max is," sings Paracy, sounding a bit like a positive version of Eminem.

Director as 'matriarch'

"I haven't seen many videos out there that have a clear message but I think it is a good medium to communicate with young people," says Hungerford, who is 28.

The video for the song sticks to some basic formulas for hip-hop. A teenage girl tries to persuade her boyfriend not to get into a car. Alcohol is involved. She mourns the loss of her boyfriend - the victim of a car crash. His family and friends cry. Close-ups show the rap duo anguished.

Despite the predictable plot, the production hits home.

"Your best friend asks, can I have a ride, sure man get inside," sings Paracy. "Girl at the passenger side, harrassin' you not to drive."

And then the hook: "I thought you oughta know what happened yesterday out of the blue, I just thought of you. Thought you oughta know since you passed away everyone in our crew, we just think of you."

After the video and performance, Distance and Kyle are elated and say the word "awesome" a lot. A crowd slowly gathers around them.

Paracy's tattoos and intensity camouflage a well-spoken young man. "The song is just about common sense and respect for others," he says, pausing to sign an autograph.

"It was really good," a young girl tells Knill and hands him a copy of their CD to sign. "One of my friends started crying when she saw it."

Knill tells me he thinks Hungerford is a "queen" for the role she took in developing the video and championing their cause.

Hungerford, 28, says she took on a sort of "matriarchal" role to Paracy and Knill but also learned a lot about their style. She watched 15 hours of hip-hop and rap videos to prepare for the project.

Bankrolled by ICBC

But the biggest challenge was funding. Hungerford spent nearly eight months in the pre-production stage working to get the project on its feet.

Hungerford presented ICBC and Autoplanbrokers with her idea and Distance and Kyle's music.

"From boys to men, we said we'd make the end of the road; it's so hard to say good-bye," sings Paracy in the third verse. "Save our youth this instant; this isn't a question man, I'm settin' the mission and stage for it; face it, if anymore kids are corpses the force of our generation,will break off its courses."

"It wasn't easy to get this project going," says Hungerford, who is known for her persistence. "Generally I don't take no for an answer."

Eventually ICBC agreed to fund production and gave her a $30,000 production budget. The video will be shown in schools throughout the LowerMainland and is part of ICBC's youth-targeted campaign for safe driving.

At the video release event, Colin Hunt, an Autoplan broker, thanked Hungerford. He said, "Without her vision, this would never have come together."

"It is youth talking to youth," says Hungerford. "That is what is so powerful."

To see and download the video, go to Geared to Youth or get a CD from an Autoplanbroker.

Chantal Eustace is a Vancouver-based writer. She has worked for The Province, the Prince Rupert Daily News and Kiteboarding Magazine. Her lastpiece for The Tyee was a profile of pop singer Jessie Farrell.