A panel of rap artists, including platinum-record selling Yukmouth, is scheduled to participate Saturday in a Modesto forum on black infant health.

The "Rappin' It Up" Symposium will be at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center and is geared toward people ages 13 to 35.

Program sponsors include the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency and the Stanislaus Multi-Cultural Community Health Coalition. Health education professionals and community leaders also will speak.

The symposium was timed for February because it is Black History Month.

Organizers decided to focus on black infant health because Stanislaus County has one of the highest infant mortality rates for blacks in the state, with 16 deaths per 1,000 births. Blacks make up 2.6 percent of the county's 450,000 residents.

Rappers were invited to attend to make the program fun, said Dr. Lynette Grandison, a Ceres pediatrician who helped organize the program.

"We want people to come who are young and of childbearing age and are African-American," she said. "If we just said there's going to people with Ph.D.s and they're going to come and talk, (people are) going to say, 'I'm not going to come to that.'"

Yukmouth is best known as half of The Luniz, an Oakland duo that gained fame for its 1995 album, "Operation Stackola." Yukmouth has released two solo albums, including last year's "Thug Lord."

Other rappers scheduled to perform are Kuzzin Prece and Po' Folks Children, and Kraze. Davie Dee, a former disc jockey at KMEL-FM in the Bay Area, also is on the program.

Tommie Muhammad, another organizer, said he wants to show participants that they do not have to give up the music they love to stay safe.

"You can educate people about the dangers of a risky lifestyle, and at the same time, not take away the fun of having a party," he said. "It's a matter of being responsible and respecting others."

Grandison said she is not sure why black infant mortality rates are so high, but she thinks it might have something to do with stress. She wants to get the word out that expectant mothers must get prenatal care and stay away from smoking.

"We're not talking about kids having extra colds, we're talking about death," she said. "We need to educate people so they will get the help they need."

The "Rappin' It Up" Symposium will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center, 601 N. Martin Luther King Drive. The free event will include a soul food dinner. For more information, call 577-5355.

Reprinted be permission of Modesto Bee.