City Of Hope Raises Over $4 Million With Hip-Hop Gala

Last Wednesday (October 18), City of Hope held their annual Spirit of Life gala in L.A. The event, which honored global head of music at YouTube and Google Lyor Cohen, raised over $4.3 million dollars for cancer research and care.

In keeping with Cohen’s long history in the music industry with hip-hop at Def Jam Records, Rush Productions, Warner Music Group, the event featured a “Pass The Mic” performance, curated by DJ Cassidy, that included Slick Rick, Kurtis Blow, Big Daddy Kane, MC Serch, Nice ‘N Smooth, EPMD, Redman, Onyx, Warren G, Domino, Musiq Soulchild, Dru Hill, Ja Rule, T.I., Swizz Beatz and Public Enemy. It also featured L.L. Cool J and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

A few days before the sold-out event, I spoke with Cohen and City of Hope Chief Philanthropy Officer Kristin Bertell who were very excited about the event, but understandably distracted by the specter of world events that were unfolding in real time. But as they pointed out, as frightening and horrific as the world is right now, cancer does not take a break. .

Steve Baltin: What made you decide that this was one that you really wanted to be involved with?

Lyor Cohen: I guess, it’s pretty simple. I lend my name, I lend my money, and I do good. That’s the basis of why I said yes. But over the last few years, I’ve come into a view of cancer, one that I’ve never seen before, because I don’t have a family history of cancer. But so many artists and so many colleagues started getting sick that I really became acutely aware and sensitive to it. And then I was in Israel with my mother. She has four boys, a gaggle of grandchildren, and we were all in Israel celebrating Passover together. And I’m in this taxi with my mother, and I say to my mom, “You know mom, you’re very lucky. You have all four boys surrounding you, all your grandchildren. We slept all the way to Israel. You’re surrounded by love. You must be feeling a lot of nachas and luck.” And she says, “Yes, I know that.” And I said, “So why do you think you’re so lucky?” And without hesitation, she said, “The more you give, the more you receive.” And it was this combination of people getting sick around me, my mother talking about the reason why she’s having such a successful, lucky life was because the more she gave, the more she received. And that’s the reason why I said yes. To be honest with you, I’ve had a very complicated history with the City of Hope. And I’ll tell you the complexity. For years, I didn’t know about it, nor was I invited. It was designated for the good old person, record industry establishment. And not only was I not invited, I had no idea that it existed. And it was only when I ended up selling Def Jam and taking over Island and Mercury that I started getting invited. I had no idea what this thing was. So, I always said, “Wow, that’s strange that they would shut me out of something so obviously important.” And so I still, I feel like Groucho Marx, not to join a club that would take me as a member. So I have all these feelings moving around my body, but the one that got me around it was around how cancer started getting close to me with some of my colleagues and artists. Some that have passed recently. I started thinking about this organization obviously doing good. Maybe there’s something that I could do to contribute that’s a little bit different. Maybe there’s something that I could think about that could be unique. So, I’m not just repeating a trick over and over and over again. Because the last thing I want to do is be celebrated. It makes me hugely uncomfortable. And so I had to think about how do I lend my name to raise a lot of money, to do a lot of good, and what would that be? And so, I thought, after asking about the statistics, about Black and Brown people and their statistics vis-a-vis the rate of cancer and mortality and stuff like that, and it became really apparent that Black people, Brown people, die more frequently from these cancers than White people. And if you scratch the surface, you realize that there is some low-hanging fruit that could help improve those numbers. And since the basis of my career and success comes from Black music, I felt it was important to see if the hospital felt like they had the desire to tackle some of these issues. And as it turns out, they did. So, that’s why I said yes, because I think that there’s a lot of stigma around education and early detection that could really help improve the statistics, and children and communities don’t have to lose so many people. And we can imagine what the impact of a family is to lose a father or mother to breast cancer or prostate cancer. And it just became like my thing that I wanted to grow into and be a part of. And so, at that point, I said yes. And once you say yes, I have to follow through. And so, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to raise a lot of money. We’re going to celebrate the art form that 50 years ago was started in The Bronx. And we’re going to give the City of Hope a different spin.

Baltin: Alice Cooper, who I love, made a comment, we were at a Grammy party, and he said, “Fame is the brand that allows you to do good.” And I always loved that comment. Do you feel like that you’ve reached that point where all that you really can do with that success is give back?

Cohen: So, the answer is yes, I don’t have any more color to give you other than they’re absolutely right. Gratitude, by the way is 100 percent part of living a healthy long life. It’s a fact. Those that have gratitude live healthier and longer lives. I give back every day, bro. I’m not a taker. I give back every single day. It’s called a mitzvah. You know what a mitzvah means? The literal meaning is an obligation. It’s an obligation to do good.

Baltin: So at what point in your life did you figure that out or were you raised that way?

Cohen: I was raised that way. [My mom] started a non-profit law firm for the working poor. I grew up in a salon in Los Feliz. My parents, we had public dinners, poetry readings, political rallies, art shows. We went door to door to elect [George] McGovern, that didn’t work so well. I come from a hippie Jewish family that feels like we have the power to make a difference. And my parents attempted to make a difference every day. We housed artists, one of them for over 13 years, Dalton Trumbo’s son-in-law. Peter Lopez, God rest his soul, calls me up and says, “Lyor, Michael Jackson would like to meet a lot of your artists. A lot of the producers and the creative people in rap music. He wants to do it in a private place.” And I had one of the most beautiful townhouses in all of New York, Cass Gilbert’s original house. So I said to him, “He could come and do the meetings at my crib.” He said, “Oh my God, that would be great.” I said, “The only problem is my mom is staying there.” And I was out of town, I was in New York. “And I’ll make sure that she stays out of your way.” Because my mom, inside the minute, always asks for a donation to her non-profit law firm. Levitt & Quinn is her law firm. It’s famous, it’s in Los Angeles. So I said, “Mom, a guy named Michael Jackson is going to be staying at the house, having meetings. Would you please promise me that you will not barge in and ask for a donation?” And she said, “Son, I resent that. Of course, I have more goods than you give me credit to.” Four days later I get a photo of Michael Jackson and my mom from Peter, says, “Michael Jackson is honored to donate to your mom’s cause.” [Laughter] So it’s that type of stuff. It’s a good spot.

Baltin: Talk about the musical component for this night.

Cohen: The music component is a gift. DJ Cassidy, who I’ve known most of his life, I adored his father. Adore his father, not adored. And mother for that matter. His father is one of the great agents that ever lived. You should look him up. Jonny Podell. He was the first rock star agent. Anyhow, his son loves rap music. All the artists, many of them. Because, you know, there’s a lot of demand, so some of them are on tour. But a lot of the artists that I managed or represented are coming and going to perform. I’m going to be in here for those people who came, donated their money, but more importantly their time. Everybody’s busy. To come to this event means that they’re leaving their families. Or their Netflix subscription. I don’t take it for granted that someone would spend money and time with this. And I hope people love it. And that it helps bring into the aperture of closing the gap of cancer between people of color and White people. And it’s a joyous occasion as joyful as one can have at this time.

Baltin: I think a lot of what happens in the world right now is people feel powerless. And the benefit of something like this is it allows people to feel like they’re at least helping and making a little bit of a difference.

Cohen: I love that and I didn’t even think about it like in that perspective. Beautiful perspective.

Baltin: You’re honoring Lyor and obviously that brings such a hip-hop component to it. I can’t really think of something that would create more of a party vibe.

Kristin Bertell: Yeah, it really is an incredible opportunity. So the fiftieth anniversary, not just of hip-hop, but also of the music industry that raises money on behalf of City of Hope. So those two celebrations are fantastic. But you mentioned the party vibe. I will tell you that there is a balance of the party vibe with what Lyor is really focusing this year’s campaign on. And that is health equity, especially in the cancer space. And he is passionate about the message that if we don’t cure cancer for all, we’re not curing cancer. And the partnership with Lyor has just been amazing. So he talks about getting the hip-hop community to really embrace prevention strategies for underrepresented communities. That’s what the focus of this year’s campaign is, and it’s incredibly special.

Baltin: Let’s face it, it’s not an easy time right now to be celebrating. The world is s**t.

Bertell: Yeah, it is. It’s hovering. Cancer’s not going to stop. At the end of the day, cancer doesn’t know geography, cancer doesn’t know zip code. It doesn’t discriminate. And we still have a mission to do. So we’re unrelenting in our pursuit here. But you’re right, I think that there is a lot on people’s minds. But having the opportunity to come together as a community and at least be with each other is important for me. You felt it last year coming out of COVID. Everybody was so excited to get dressed up and be together and have some fun.

Baltin: At least at an event like this, it allows people to feel like they’re making a little bit of a difference or helping.

Bertell: Yes, you are so right. And I also think, so many of us are working from home. We don’t have some of the connections of being in the office. So when you get these opportunities to be together, it becomes even more special. So we’re all traveling, we’re all dealing with lots of stuff. But we’ve got to take these opportunities to meet people and be together. [And] no matter if you’re giving $100, $1000, $100,000, you want to know that your philanthropy is moving the needles. Nobody throws dollars up and just says, “Hey, do with it what you will.” And I think the confidence that this group has in City of Hope and the partnership that we have built with the music industry, it’s an amazing group of people. These people have been with us for 50 years. We’ve been giving Spirit of Life Awards, except for COVID, for 50 years. And this group has stood by us and continues to raise money because they believe in us, because they believe in the mission and they believe that their money goes farther, faster at City of Hope. Which that’s on the individual level and on the corporate level. And that really is just very remarkable.

Baltin: How has the response been this year?

Bertell: The response has been truly overwhelming. And I give a lot of credit, Lyor is an icon in the industry. He truly is an icon. The hip-hop movement, that celebration of just 50 years of hip-hop, I can’t believe it, quite frankly, that it’s 50 years. But people give both to this event because of the honoree. They give because they’ve been giving to this event for decades, because they’ve been used to giving at this event, they’re going to give year in, year out. But what has been special about this year is Lyor has opened up a whole other group of donors that are brand new to City of Hope. And that’s what I love about this event, is our tent gets bigger and bigger each year. So he’s invited a whole new group of donors that didn’t have experience with City of Hope. So we’re going to be introducing ourselves to them that night, and this will be their first experience. So we’ve got people in the room who have been with us for 30, 35 years and we’ve got brand new people. So it’s going to be an exciting night.

Baltin: For you, just as a fan, who would be the dream artist to perform?

Bertell: Oh, gosh. I have so many. Because I’ve been doing this event now, and I’ve been at City of Hope for 10 years, we’ve had so many amazing artists. We’ve had Dave Matthews, we had Beyonce, we’ve had so many great ones. Taylor Swift, just because I happen to like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay. Coldplay would be amazing. There are so many great artists.