by Eric Ture Muhammad
Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com)�Invited to keynote the West Coast Hip Hop Summit at the Four Seasons Hotel on Feb. 14, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan called for hip hop artists, label executives and music moguls to turn to God to promote peace at home and abroad.

He spoke of their destiny to foster world peace but that it first needed to manifest in their own lives. Proper use of hip hop, with lyrics that educate and inspire, will capture rap fans worldwide and make young people instruments of peace, he said.

"God�s will is not going to be frustrated. He came to make us into a great people inspite of ourselves. You are on the way to that now because each of you is troubled in your own spirit, because there is something missing in your life and in your work," he said.

"That which is missing," Min. Farrakhan said, "is respect for the Creator in their gifts of song, expression and artistry. He also warned that it is easy for God to take the gift away if they did not apply it properly. "

The invitation-only meeting served as a follow-up to the commitments made last June at an east coast meeting called by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, who also organized the Los Angeles meeting. Out of the New York gathering came the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, a permanent organization created to protect artists and promote greater social and political activism. Min. Farrakhan was the keynote presenter at the New York summit as well.

Attendees at the West Coast conference included record executives Barry Hankerson, Tha Row Records� Marion "Suge" Knight, comedian and radio personality Steve Harvey, producer and artist DJ Quik, rapper the D.O.C., Maryam Ali, a performer and oldest daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Western Region Minister Tony Muhammad, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) consultant Susan Jenkins and Min. Benjamin Muhammad, executive director of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network also addressed the audience.

Beyond the artists themselves, the summit attracted politicians, religious leaders and community activists from all walks of Black and Latino life.

Min. Farrakhan told the hundreds gathered that adversity is the "mother of creativity," pointing out how Black suffering produced music�spirituals, blues, gospel, jazz, and R&B. "And out of the suffering in the ghetto came rap. The suffering of your people has produced you. And now, you can live from those that produced you, but that should make you a servant of those that produced you. That should make you a servant of the �hood,� because that �hood� produced you," he said.

Min. Farrakhan also urged record execs to support artists as they seek to uplift, not degrade, their community. If the industry refuses to accept the change, an alternative distribution system must be established, he said.

The violence and deprivation of urban life should make rappers want to change it, not just talk about it, said Min. Farrakhan.

"You are forming somebody with your rap," the Minister said. "Think about what you form, because tomorrow you�ll see it played out on the streets."

The Minister spoke of America�s "war on terrorism" and how Mr. Bush would have difficulty prosecuting a war without America�s youth. He spoke of a letter written weeks ago to Mr. Bush, warning of how the country�s war can lead to a battle referred to in scripture as the war of Armageddon.

God is the author of peace and no true contentment can exist without him, he said.

Minister Farrakhan remained critical of the industry�s depiction of artists and warned the artists that their popularity and money did not make them free. "You�ve been given license but not freedom," Min. Farrakhan said. Permission is given to be a fool, prostitute, criminal or pimp, he said, referring to common negative themes in hip hop videos and music.

"Don�t sell your soul," he told the artists. "You are the ones. The world will take a change from your lips, from your pen. You have obliterated lines of (racial and geographic) division and artificial barriers," he said.

He called the invitation to the summit an honor, "because I see in you probably what you might not see in yourselves. I want to help you to see who you are so that you can accept the responsibility that God and time has put on your shoulders."

During a brief question and answer session, an artist asked Min. Farrakhan to offer a title for a song that would promote peace and unity between Blacks and Latinos. "I will tell you if you can say, let�s not make war, let�s make peace; and you young people be peacemakers amongst yourselves and then spread it to your adult population. I am an old man for counsel. Young men are for war," he said.

"I will always be here for you. Whenever you get into a squabble and you need somebody to help you make peace, I will be by your side," the Minister pledged.