Canadian hip hop artists are rallying to get a more ethnically diverse group of people onto the national bone marrow registry.

It’s a cause that doesn’t have much publicity or media attention but the hip hop community is hoping to change that.

Jesse Plunkett, founder of Hip Hop Canada, was motivated by a friend’s death from leukemia and says when he learned that the majority of donors on the bone marrow registry were not visible minorities, he was concerned that Canadian ethnic communities were potentially losing out on treatment options.

Plunkett enlisted the help of Canadian Blood Services to try to reach a larger group of donors. The concern was spread through online communities and generated so much buzz that two free concerts to raise more awareness have been scheduled.

The concerts will be held in Vancouver and Toronto.