MTV News Online

Rappers Dead Prez, DJ Tony Touch, the Roots' Black Thought and Reflection Eternal's Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek will perform at the third annual Black August benefit concert in New York.

Co-sponsored by Stress magazine, Rawkus Entertainment, Loud Records and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the show is intended to raise awareness about the U.S. Navy's resumed military operations on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and to rally support for exiled political activist Assata Shakur.

Shakur, a former Black Panther, escaped from a New Jersey prison on Nov. 2, 1979, after being convicted two years earlier for her involvement in the death of a state trooper during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.

Shakur has been living in Cuba since 1986, and New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has been seeking Shakur's extradition since 1994.

The Black August 2000 benefit concert will be staged Aug. 30 at the New Age Cabaret in Manhattan. For more information about the event and tickets, contact organizers at (718) 622-8292.

— David Basham