"I found a power in rap," the Romany musician known as Gipsy explains at a pizzeria while grabbing a quick bite to eat between recording sessions. "With rap, I feel I can sing about problems and opinions with a big spectrum that everybody will understand."

Gipsy's musical message of tolerance and hope is headlining a Human Rights Day concert at Roxy, with United Flavours opening. "We're on the same boat," says United Flavours manager Lukáš Kolíbal. His organization, JahMusic, is devoted to spreading "the importance of equal rights, respect and justice."

Gipsy, 23, is an ambitious young Roma who has toured internationally, co-owns a recording studio and in 1995 founded a music agency called Paranormalz. His intensity and street-smart charisma are balanced by a generosity of spirit that quickly deflects any focus on himself to larger issues. Part of that expansiveness is his use of three languages: "English as [the native] element of rap, Czech for the spectrum of what I want to say, and Romany as the emotion we need to reference."

The vocals and instrumentals of Gipsy's current stage lineup, which includes Vojta Lavička on violin and Patrik Banga on guitar, include textures that can at times be described as being audibly both Romany and rap.

As someone who grew up in Prague, Gipsy has no illusions about the state of race relations in this country. "These white kids, they don't take you [in]," he says simply. But he's hoping Paranormalz will help change things.

"To show [Romany youth] there is hope is the main activity of Paranormalz," he explains. Toward that end, the Paranormalz DJs, MCs and rappers don't keep the microphones to themselves. "Come on, show us what you've got" is their invitation to Roma and other beleaguered youth to whom they offer Internet space and stage time to write and rap.

This invitation to the mic and keyboard is a stark contrast to the dealer and pimp come-ons Romany youth encounter on the streets of the European Union. As Gipsy explains it, the Paranormalz message of "Be creative! You've got something to say? Say it!" also differs from the signals Romany children get on a daily basis.

"I'm rapping about it, I'm trying to get into the schools and talk with small kids and explain that I was like them, that they can rule their future and that drugs are not the future," he says. "Paranormalz activities are to show them creativity is a way to get out."