Kristian Capulet Shortt and John Gibbins, aka Chubbz (members of group The Special Branch), with Zabrina Collins (nee Shortt) handing out leaflets on The Truth About Drugs in Letterkenny recently.
BY SEÁN P. FEENY
A DONEGAL rap artist will take to the streets of Derry later this month continuing his campaign to educate young people on the dangers of drug abuse.
Following the success of their first leaflet drop in Letterkenny last September, Kristian Shortt take a team to Derry on April 19, to distribute 10,000 leaflets entitled The Truth About Drugs on the harmful effects of drugs throughout the city.
“We will be going business to business and shop to shop and leaving leaflets. This is the first time this campaign is to be done in Derry after the massive success and reception we got on the streets of Letterkenny last year where we distributed 3,500 leaflets.
“Many on those people we met on the Letterkenny streets praised us with words like ‘fair play to you lads’ and ‘well somebody’s got to do it’. So hopefully we will get a similar response in Derry,” said Kristian.
The son of Frank Shortt, who was wrongfully convicted of allowing the sale of drugs on his nightclub premises back in the early 1990s, knows ‘The Truth About Drugs’ only too well, having suffered from drug addiction himself.
He said: “Drugs were responsible for ruining my life some years back as I was an addict, but also in the history of my family with regards to my father’s wrongful imprisonment.
“Drugs were the focal point of that entire struggle. How can I sit idly by and watch the lives of my fellow human beings be destroyed by this pestilence that is drugs.”
Kristian, who goes by the stage name Capulet, has focused all his attention on his career as a rap artist over the past year and last summer signed with a talent agency in Los Angeles.
He and his group, The Special Branch, will also be performing at a fundraiser in Derry in aid of Foyle Hospice on the night of April 19. They will be joining a group of other rap artists for the concert entitled Help Thru Hip Hop at Life Nightclub.