User:Adjoajo/Tillard

Conrad Tillard was born on September 15, 1964 in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a reverend, author, an educator, youth advocate, and public speaker. He has been a community activist for over 30 years. A former member and minister of the National of Islam and a minister with Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. He was 19 when he joined the National of Islam. While with the Nation of Islam he was known as Conrad X, Conrad Muhammad, and then Minister Conrad Muhammad. He is known for his youth activism and was called the Hip hop, minister while with the Nation of Islam and after being with the Nation of Islam. He was removed from being the Minister of Mosque No. 7 by Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1997.

He organized a Day-of-Atonement after the death of Tupac Shakur. In 2001 Conrad organized a Hip-Hop summit to address negative imagery and the promoting of gangsterism in hip-hop music, and called for hip-hop to clean up its' act. In 2002 he organized a hip-hop summit in Harlem.

In 2004 Conrad became Reverend Conrad Tillard.

He is known today as Reverend Conrad B. Tillard and is a Sr. Pastor at Nazarene Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ (UCC) in Brooklyn.

Early life
Conrad was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up in Washington, D.C. His biological father was a jazz musician and when his parents divorced his mother married a Baptist minister. He grew up in a Baptist church He attended Middlebury College in Vermont. He attended for one year and transferred to University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At University of Pennsylvania Tillard majored in African American studies.

He then attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and majored in African American studies.

Career
In 1984 he worked with the Rev. Jesse Jackson's campaign for U.S.A. presidency. After working with Jesse Jackson's campaign he joined the Nation of Islam. He became Conrad X.

In 1996 after the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, Conrad organized "Day of Atonement", to address issues of violent themes in hip-hop music.

In 1997 he studied a the Harvard Divinity School.

In the 1990s he started (CHHCHANGE), A Movement for Change, was said to focus on “conscious hip hop activism", and social empowerment for black youth.

May, 2001 -Conrad organized a hip-hop summit in Harlem at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building on 125th street to address critical & negative issues with Hip-Hop and to find ways to clean up rap music. Music industry executives were invited such as; Elektra, Motown, and rappers included was Fat Joe and Afrika Bambaata.

Russell Simmons did not support Conrad Muhammad's Hip-Hop summit. He organized a counter-summit hosted by Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan who had ousted Conrad from Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. Russell Simmons at the time was considered to be rap's premier mogul. Simmons was quoted as saying, “I urge that you do not support open and aggressive critics of the hip-hop community (i.e. C. Delores Tucker, Bob Dole or Conrad Muhammad)".

Conrad Muhammad is quoted as saying a New York Post article, “It is our community,” says Muhammad, “that is most hurting from the excesses of this music". “Contemporary rap has brought back ‘pimp’ style,” Muhammad told The Post. “Contemporary rap has brought back ‘pimp’ style,” Muhammad told The Post.   He was outspoken against the the use of the "N word" and quoted as saying     Second, he decries the ubiquitous use of the “N”-word in commercial rap.

“We have reinstitutionalized a word that the black community had fought to make persona non grata. Today, it is more popular than ever".

In 2002, he ran for Democratic congressional representative challenging Charles Rangel.

In 2003, Conrad had changed his name back to Conrad Tillard. He returned to Christianity.

In 2005 he published One Nation Under God.

In 2012 he published a book about his early life, his memoir, "In My Father's House: The Spiritual and Political Memoir of the Man Once Known as the Hip Hop Minister, Conrad Muhammad". He says about his book, "It was the golden age of Black Hip Hop. All the groups and things the youth like now I was right there in the middle of it and I cant wait to share my story through this book," said Rev. Tillard.