Rap Against Violence DND (Develop Not Destroy) hits the airways of Central Florida this week as State Attorney Norm Wolfinger serves as special guest on the 102 JAMZ morning show Wednesday to announce volume two of the contest.

The contest, developed by Wolfinger last year, encourages young people to write and perform an original rap or hip-hop song with a gun violence prevention theme. Ten winners will be selected and will record their original songs at a professional recording studio. The songs will then be professionally mixed, a CD produced, and distributed across Central Florida counties.

The first Rap Against Violence contest came about last year when State Attorney Wolfinger decided to do more to get the community talking and moving to address gun violence in area neighborhoods. Merging the right message with the right messengers meant taking the gun violence prevention theme to the age group where the majority of gun crimes occur.

The project met with great success. Despite the upswing in violent crime the entire nation is experiencing, Operation Cease-Fire, the Rap Against Violence contest, and the deepening partnerships spurred by the two programs have helped moderate that upswing in Brevard and Seminole counties. Operation Cease-Fire is a law enforcement and prosecution partnership formed by Wolfinger to reduce gun violence. Wolfinger’s office was the recipient of a national award presented by U. S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for the program in May at the Project Safe Neighborhoods national convention.

In announcing Volume 2 of the contest, Wolfinger said, "We continue our quest to reach into the homes, hearts, and minds of the community to spread a word-of-mouth epidemic against gun violence." The state attorney has challenged and met with law enforcement in other jurisdictions to promote a statewide songwriting competition in an effort to reduce gun violence by changing attitudes.

Wolfinger said the challenge this year is to motivate young people by working through the hip-hop community to develop their neighborhoods and become an active positive influence on the times instead of destroying their communities by advocating a lifestyle of sex and violence.

"The rap community has such a tremendous amount of talented artists who hopefully will unleash their gifts in a productive way through positive rap and hip-hop to make the community safer for everyone,’’ said Wolfinger.

Tune into the Home Team on 102 JAMZ Wednesday morning to catch Wolfinger with Jay Love and the crew or go to the state attorney’s website at http://www.sa18.state.fl.us to view the contest rules and application procedures.

Additional sponsors include: the sheriffs’ offices of Brevard, Seminole, Orange, and Osceola counties; Bright House Networks; 102 JAMZ; TransContinental Studios; CrimeLine; 18th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Norm Wolfinger; 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Lawson Lamar; and Project Safe Neighborhoods.