The King County Executive's Hip Hop Awards and ceremony acknowledges and honors innovative performance, community service and entrepreneurial achievement by locally based members of the hip-hop community whose work has had significant impact in King County. King County Executive Dow Constantine presents the awards along with a keynote address. Musical guests include a line-up of King County's previous winners of the award and Northwest talent that have impacted not only King County through Hip Hop, but regionally, nationally and even internationally: Americas Got Talent semi-finalists the EriAm Sisters, International Dance Champions the Massive Monkees, James Burchfield, aka AudioPoet, the human beatbox. Also performing, Robbie Hill and Family Affair with Cookin' Bag 70's funk from "Wheedles Groove", Black Stax, powerhouse blues vocalist Josephine Howell and more. Speakers include, Northwest civil rights, icon Eddie Rye Jr. and Elmer Dixon, a founding member of the Seattle Black Panther Party, the first chapter established outside of California, and a representative from the Affordable Care Act. Tony B will be Master of Ceremonies. The King County Executive Awards for Excellence in Hip Hop honors the legacy of Dr. King, raises awareness to the namesake change of "King County" to "Martin Luther King County", and logo change from a crown to the likeness of Dr. King, and honor's members of King County's Hip Hop community for artistic/business excellence and community engagement. An independent panel reviews nominations and recommends Hip Hop Award recipients. The 2013 winners will be announced on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. (Dr. King's actual birthday). Proceeds benefit MUSICA for Youth, which supports early childhood education, and MUSICA's digital media learning program "If You're not online, you're falling behind". This year's event, as part of the MUSICA Festival, will also include awards for the "Dr. Martin Luther King digital equity challenge. This year's theme will be to create awareness about the impact of digital exclusion and the goal of "digital equity" in our society by engaging participants in "the creative convergence of digital arts, science, technology, social justice, business for human expression, communication, social interaction and education". Entrants will address the following questions by using digital media video/audio submissions to be eligible for prizes: How might Dr. King use digital media today? What would his message be? How would you or Dr. King describe "digital exclusion"? $28.50 general admission, $50.00 VIP reserved seating, limited availability. * contact the Venue listed below for ticketing information