Operation Skid Row

Fans cheers and sing along with the performers.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Flava Flav, center, and Chuck D, right, perform as part of Public Enemy’s set. Chuck D helped organize the event and served as its elder statesman.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Arturo Molina Jr, known as Frost, performs. The event lasted more than four hours.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Flava Flav knows that it’s his time to shine.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Graffiti artists work on a piece of plastic sheeting material during Sunday’s concert.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Chuck D addresses the crowd. He helped organize the event to put a focus on the problems of Los Angeles’ downtrodden.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Antonio Quevedo, 24, of Los Angeles, kicks his heels up and over Basem Hamida, 34.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

His smile may not say it all, but his grill does say “Flava Flav.”  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Money B of Digital Underground fame helps skid row sizzle.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ronnie Hudson, right, and the West Coast Pop Lockers also took the stage.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Twin sports a special T-shirt for the politically charged event, which included calls for black and brown unity and denunciations of police brutality and racial profiling.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)