PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It started with Gianni Lee bringing a group of artists and influencers together for a conversation following the George Floyd uprising.
“A lot of other things take a lot of planning. We really were adamant about doing something now. All you need is a broom and some people and you automatically have an impact on the community,” said Lee.
A visual artist from Philadelphia, Lee said they were looking for a way to collaborate on a solution towards social justice and engage with the communities where their roots began.
Eventually, someone came up with “The Big Cleanup” idea.
Dayne Johnson, a hip-hop artist from Philadelphia, said he can’t recall who sparked the idea, but it took them back to their upbringing in the city.
“The older generation would clear all the cars off the block and everybody would come outside and take care of their community. We tapped back into that but (we’re) trying to get the youth involved,” Johnson recalled.
The meetups are like a BYOB party — “bring yo own broom” — and the theme is “just cause.”
“The Big Cleanup is about changing the mentality. How people think about themselves, how people see themselves. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. How you treat yourself, how you take care of your environment affects how you treat people,” said Johnson.
Together, over the past couple of months, the group has beautified neighborhoods in Germantown, Kensington, South Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia.
Other hip-hop artists, including Chill Moody and Tierra Whack, have also joined the positive movement, taking advantage of the chance to connect and give back to the city they’re from.
“You can see all these cool cats, all these talented people getting together for one common goal. Hopefully, it sparks clean ups in other cities,” said Lee.
He hopes their efforts will help bring back “the village” mentality, where everyone takes responsibility and ownership in the success of a community.
With social media, socializing looks different now, he said, so “it’s a different level of respect we have for one another when they see you cleaning up in front of their grandma, aunt’s, mom’s, or father’s house.”
The cleanup allows for people’s focus to be on the city and on themselves, he added.
“The Big Cleanup is the glue that kind of brought everybody together,” said Johnson.
With COVID-19, social activities have been put on pause, but the Big Cleanup has brought back connecting — and for a good cause.
“It’s exposing people to social groups they wouldn’t normally be exposed to. A lot of us don’t always converge. Having that connection to the community drives it back home that we’re all the same and we have one mission,” Johnson said.
The last cleanup of the season is planned for Oct. 25, but Lee and Johnson say it won’t be the last you’ll see of them.
They hope the hashtag #TheBigCleanUpPhilly will take off and spread positivity to other cities. They also hope the message will get out about the great things happening in Philly.
“We’re like, ‘What can we do to change it? Let’s start right now.’ That shows people the mentality of the city because we’re all different people, all different walks of life, all from the same city and we all decided let’s just do it right now,” said Lee.
Anyone hoping to support the movement can follow them on Instagram.