Devine Carama Is Building a Legacy Where Hip-Hop Meets Activism, Education, and Empathy

 

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Devine Carama is a nationally renowned, Emmy Award-winning Hip-Hop artist, educator, community activist, and author from the Southside of Lexington, Kentucky. After years of battle rapping and releasing countless mixtapes, Devine released his debut album Devine Intervention in 2008. His socially conscious tenor has become a signature of his style across 15 albums within a 20-year Rap career, which also includes his critically acclaimed Kingtucky series. As the first two-time winner of NBA All-Star, Dame Lillard’s 2020 “Live Cypher” Rap Contest, Devine received high praise from Drake producer Boi-1da, rappers Lil’ Cease, Fabolous, Benny the Butcher, Hip-Hop journalist Rob Markman, and more. Devine has also worked with and/or opened shows for legends like Rakim, AZ, J. Cole, LL Cool J, De La Soul, and many more.

As the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lexington Music Awards committee, Devine’s most impactful work is at the intersection of Hip-Hop, education, and activism. In December 2018, he performed outside in the cold for 48 hours straight to raise awareness for his annual youth coat drive. Over the last 10 years, Devine’s Believing in Forever organization has facilitated the collection and delivery of over 22,000 coats to children in Central and Eastern Kentucky. He is also the new director of the Mayor of Lexington’s youth gun violence reduction program ONE Lexington, which has launched several new initiatives in its first year under his direction.

As the professor of “Lyricism & Leadership: Hip-Hop & Community Change” at the University of Kentucky, Devine collaborated with other professors from Rutgers for a study that analyzed the disenfranchisement of fathers in the justice system. He then worked with producer and longtime collaborator JK-47 and R&B artist Bryce Jamel to bring the data from the study to life in a song called “Invisible Father”. Devine and JK-47 would go on to win an Emmy for best “News Promotion” from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, with their song “Positively Lex 18”. In 2020, Devine organized Black girls and women (grades 6-12 and college) to create an album called The Black Girl Project, which focused on the journey of maturation for Black girls coming of age in a society that doesn’t always value them.