Downtown Akron is hopping with activity this weekend.

This weekend, Lock 3 will welcome the return of the Hip Hop Showcase, which debuted last year and drew more than 3,100 people. This year, it will be headlined by KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane and Buckshot.

The event is organized by the nonprofit group Keepers of the Art, which is also behind 91.3 the Summit's Hip Hop Flavas (10 p.m. Saturdays) with hosts Ismail ''Ish'' Al-Amin and Donovan ''Don Juan'' Rogers.

Al-Amin and Rogers say the inaugural event was an unqualified success.

''You saw people ages 40 and up partying with people 18 and under, so it did two things: It provided a different perspective of hip-hop that people aren't used to getting from mainstream radio and TV and it closed the generation gap in the city,'' Al-Amin said.

So, when it came time to contemplate the 2009 edition, Al-Amin, Rogers and the rest of the KOA crew decided not to try to top last year's headliners, Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, but instead looked to a milestone in hip-hop history.

KOA is actively involved in the Hip Hop Educational Literacy Program (HELP) that uses hip-hop lyrics to help bridge the communication gap between students and teachers and teach literacy, critical analysis and multicultural relevance to students. One of the songs featured in a HELP workbook was the 1989 classic anti-violence anthem, Self Destruction, the theme song of the Stop the Violence movement spearheaded by Bronx rapper KRS-One (an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone). The single featured several popular rappers, such as MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh and Public Enemy, all spitting verses calling for unity in hip-hop.

''We were sitting back thinking, man, this came out in 1989. It's 20 years old. So the light went on in our heads and we decided we should celebrate the Stop the Violence Movement,'' Al-Amin said. ''Then we had to ask ourselves, 'Is it still relevant?' and based on that question, we deemed it yes, it's relevant because some of the same issues that were plaguing inner-city and urban areas are still very much prevalent today.

''It was also one of the most important progressions in hip-hop history in that they were able to organize hip-hop artists on the East Coast and bring them together under the banner of peace. . . .

''[It] was a monumental event in the history of hip-hop and the movement raised more than $60,000, which was donated to the National Urban League to act as seed money to start mentoring programs for inner-city youth,

''It was a great cause then and it's a great cause now.''

With that in mind, KOA turned to KRS-One, who immediately jumped on board with the concept.

''If you're talking anything with nonviolence in hip-hop, he's the architect and why not showcase him?'' Al-Amin asked.

Since 1987, when his Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One and slain DJ/social worker Scott LaRock) released its debut Criminal Minded, KRS-One has held the torch for old-school hip-hop music and the hip-hop and B-boy culture.

In his 20-plus-year career, ''the Blastmaster'' has given hip-hop several classics, such as The Bridge Is Over, My Philosophy and Jack of Spades, and has never been afraid to spark controversy with songs such as Black Cop and Sound of the Police.

In addition to his 15 albums, KRS-One is an in-demand speaker on maintaining and understanding hip-hop history and culture as a concept rather than a genre definition or a marketing term.

With ''The Teacha'' on board, the Akron group went back to basics to fill out the rest of the headliners by asking fans a common hip-hop question: If you could see two of your favorite emcees of all time, who would you want to see?

The answer was overwhelmingly Big Daddy Kane and Rakim. But since Rakim is only sporadically active (and quite expensive to boot), KOA approached and locked up the ''B-I-G-D-A-double D-Y-K-A-N-E.''

Kane, who released his debut album, Long Live the Kane, in 1988, has long been considered one of the best and most influential emcees in hip-hop, frequently name-checked in song by younger artists, including Eminem, the Roots and Jay-Z. He delivers his signature brags and boasts in hits such asRaw and Warm It Up Kane with a fast, machine-gun flow. He was also one of the first rappers to take on a smooth playa persona and trade in the usual rapper's tough talk to speak softly and smoothly to female hip-hop fans.

The headliners are rounded out by Buckshot, a Brooklyn-bred rapper and former member of the '90s group Black Moon whose mixtape staples includeWho Got the Props and How Many MC's . . . and he was the mastermind behind the New York supergroup Boot Camp Click. Though his early works helped define the nihilistic, violent, no-way-out-of-the-'hood attitude of early '90s East Coast hip-hop, his more recent solo efforts, including 2008's The Formula, a collaboration with indie producer 9th Wonder, find Buckshot largely eschewing the remorseless, bullet-ridden street tales of his youth in favor of a more mature form of self-analysis and awareness and, of course, plenty of verses about his prodigious skills.

With both KRS-One and Buckshot on the bill, fans will probably get a preview of the pair's upcoming album Survival Skills, due Sept. 15. The album's lead single is Robot, a diss track aimed at the prevalent use of autotune in hip-hop that beat Jay-Z's similar themed and better marketed Death of Autotune single to the ears of listeners by more than a month. Survival features Mary J. Blige and guest verses from Talib Kweli, K'NAAN, dance hall DJ Bounty Killer and Slug of Minneapolis indie rap duo Atmosphere and others.

The Lock 3 bill is filled out with homegrown talent, including Cleveland's Poetic Republic, Fly.Union from Columbus and Akron's own Ace Boogie, with between-act music provided once again by Cleveland's globe-trotting DJ Mick Boogie.

This year's Hip Hop Showcase has also added a ''community row,'' which will feature tables staffed by various local social services.

In addition to ''waving your hands in the air and partying like just don't care,'' Al-Amin hopes the evening inspires older hip-hop fans to share with their younger counterparts.

''We're challenging the young professionals who were raised on hip-hop during the Stop the Violence movement to bring some young people out and bring their kids or kids in their neighborhood and expose them to this message,'' he said.

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  or 330-996-3758