Khafre Jay

Biography

Khafre Jay hails from Hunters Point, San Francisco. A neighborhood that stands in stark contrast to the gilded city we're used to seeing in media. His activism is deeply rooted in real communities dealing with real issues. He is at home on the humblest corner, the corporate board room, in the booth, on stage, and at the gaudiest lectern speaking truth to power. 

Khafre's experience in merging activism and expressive cultural arts led him to found Hip Hop For Change, Inc. This 501c3 education organization uses Hip Hop culture to educate and advocate for social justice in the Bay Area. Khafre has impacted the world through this organization, employing almost a thousand people in his community and raising over three million dollars to advance social justice and Hip Hop activism in the Bay Area. In 2014, Khafre created THE MC program, a modular curriculum using Hip Hop history and culture to focus on healthy expression and positive identity. He has worked with over 22 thousand youth, K-12, to create healthier places for children to foster their creativity and positive identity. 

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Khafre travels the country now speaking academically at universities like Tulane, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and Stanford to name a few, and has also graced the TEDx stage. As a performing artist, Khafre has shared the stage with world-class acts such as Rakim, Method Man, Dead Prez, Hieroglyphics, The Pharcyde, Talib Kweli many more. He has used his art as a political tool and performed for the 2010 Democratic National Convention, for Kaiser's 2018 Health and Equity Summit, and the 2015 and 16 March on Monsanto, just to name a few. To top it off, since 2014 Khafre hosts Hip Hop For Change Radio, a weekly radio program on San Francisco's KPOO 89.5 FM that supports his local Hip Hop community.

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For all this, Khafre's work has recently been recognized by the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the San Francisco Symphony, winning both the 2020 William J. Zellerbach Award for Social Change and the Symphony's 2020 Ellen Magnin Newman Award for outstanding arts organization. Khafre has graced Mother Jones, The Daily Kos, The SF Chronicle, The Oakland Tribune, POP VULTURE Magazine, and Musicbailout. His work has been featured on CBS News, The Black News Network, NBC Bay Area, and PBS News Hour. Khafre's brand of raw, revolutionary, anti-white supremacist and misogynist, community-oriented Hip Hop is a plus on any stage. If you want your audience to move, Khafre Jay is your answer. He never slows down. 

Sejal Choksi-Chugh

Executive Director at San Francisco Baykeeper

I first got to know Khafre while patrolling the south SF shoreline for pollution on the Baykeeper boat. As he told stories of his childhood growing up in Hunter's Point, we bonded over a mutual passion for the environmental harms facing the community. Khafre has since found opportunities for our non-profit organizations to partner, and I've experienced firsthand how he brings energy, talent, authenticity, and creativity to every project. Once he develops a vision for how he can help his community, he's determined to achieve it -- with good humor and a smile.  And I've been inspired by him as an organizational leader, too, watching him jump fundraising, marketing, and management hurdles with skill and ease.  If you're lucky enough to have the opportunity, I highly recommend working with him.

Michelle Ryan

CXO at GROW Design and Development

Khafre Jay is one of the most important voices of Oakland and the Bay Area. I have witnessed his ability to inspire and create crucial change for the youth and communities across the bay through hip hop. I stand in awe of the relentless work Khafre puts in to attain this success. He is one of the hardest working individuals I have known and I’m proud to have worked on several initiatives with him. In fact, every time I’ve asked for his help he’s obliged because that’s the type of person he is, always there to help out his people. If you are ever so lucky to meet him, you will know it was an honor, just as I did. 

• Johwell Saint-Cilien

Event Production Coordinator at Oakland Museum of California

Khafre's Hip Hop For Change was the very first company I saught to collaborate with when I first arrived in the Bay Area. His name kept coming up and so I reached out. For the very first day that we connected, he made me feel welcome and very comfortable to work with. I have never in my life met someone this resilient and devoted to his community. His level of integrity is something that I always look up to and his professionalism speaks for itself. I have collaborated with Hip Hop For Change on many projects and am always looking forward to the next one. I strongly recommend working with Khafre, because with him, what you see is precisely what you get.