Chuck D, Cypress Hill To 'Make The Invisible Visible' In 'Operation Skid Row'

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A group of hip-hop legends are coming to the streets of downtown Los Angeles this weekend to highlight the plight of the homeless.

Chuck D of 90s rap group Public Enemy and Cypress Hill will perform their hits at an all-day street festival on Skid Row on Sunday, just one day ahead of the Martin Luther King holiday.

Chuck D — aka Carlton Ridenhour — told KNX 1070 he's looking forward to "Operation Skid Row".

"For years it's been called 'L.A.'s dirty secret', but the truth and the statistics of the matter is it's the largest concentration of homeless people in the country and the second-largest in the world," said Ridenhour.

The 51-year-old rapper bemoaned the lack of "conscious social activity" in hip hop music and said the event is all about bringing attention to the city's growing homeless population.

"We're looking to make the invisible visible," he added.

The free concert will be held on the corner of 5th and Gladys Avenue on Sunday afternoon.

Dubbed by the group's website as both "Operation Skid Row Music Festival" and "Occupy Skid Row Music Festival", the show will feature over a dozen acts, including Kurupt from The Dogg Pound, Mellow Man Ace, and XClan.

Ridenhour said he hopes to one day compare the work of "Operation Skid Row" to the efforts of another politically-active celebrity band.

"When you look at U2 and Bono, that's what we want rap music to represent as well," Ridenhour said.