The Wednesday, April 14, 2021 edition of Africa400 looks at Detroit Rising, a series of innovative projects being launched in the Motor City by several committed visionary Detroiters.  Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcome Special Guests King Yadee, Raphael Wright and Tone Tone.

KING YADEE: Th3 Block Development and Th3 Stash House Culture Shop

King Yadee is the creator of Th3 Block Development, a construction company that purchases abandoned houses in Detroit and renovates them with the goal of “buy back the hood”. Crew members train young people on how to fix homes and about homeownership.

Yadee also has a production, clothing, superfood company called The3 Stash House Culture Shop, which encourages youth to not sell drugs, join gangs or do negative things in the community.

RAPHAEL WRIGHT: Urban Plug L3C, Neighborhood Grocery, Taste of the Diaspora

Raphael Wright is an entrepreneur, author, and investor from Detroit. He is the founder of Urban Plug L3C, a social conglomerate that starts and owns businesses dedicated to improving Detroit’s urban neighborhoods. Detroit, a city whose population is 80% Black, has not had a Black-owned grocery store since 2014. Urban Plug’s first project is Neighborhood Grocery, which is an equity crowdfunded grocery store and market garden coming to the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood in the summer of 2021.

Hundreds of investors who put at least $50 toward opening Neighborhood Grocery will have an equity stake in the business that will occupy a defunct convenience store on the corner of Essex and Manistique in the Jefferson-Chalmers area. He has crowdfunded more than $60,000 and has also put $50,000 of his own money into the project. It is estimated the endeavor will cost about $300,000.

Wright also is part of the team along with Ederique Goudia and Jermond Booze who created the initiative “Taste the Diaspora” which celebrates and supports Black chefs and food makers in Detroit.

TONE TONE: Toney Island

Tone Tone, a Detroit Rapper, has opened Toney Island, a combination of his name and Coney Island, at the corner of E. Warren Avenue and Dickerson Street on the city’s east side. Tone Tone was inspired by rappers like Nipsey Hussle, Master P, Kanye West, Diddy, 50 Cent, Jay-Z and others to become an entrepreneur.

The rapper is known for his hit singles like “Waddupdoe”, “Love The Way She Doin It”, “I Ain’t Playin’ Witcha” and “Unky”.

Tone juggles being a father, rapper and entrepreneur, and despite this it is his blood relatives’ support for him that has been vital to the restaurant’s launch because they are all on staff. It was important to him “to break the generational curse in our family. Now I’m not the only one that’s got something going on,” Tone said. “They don’t have to say, ‘This (is) Tone’s spot.’ No. They can say, ’Come to our restaurant,’ but they’re their own bosses, in their own lane.” Tone Tone plans to build at least five franchises in the city and also “hot spots” around the country like Las Vegas, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Thanks to Africa400 and Bro. Richard of HANDRadio for recovering the full show after our recording process failed last week.  The full show can now be listened to below:

Africa400 is heard live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the live broadcast, the show is made available on HANDRadio’s site as well as the updated posts and Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbarvents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).