The Dash Point Road Starbucks, from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, celebrated a grand opening for its new late evening hours, now featuring premium food offerings paired with craft beer and wine selections.

And elevating the evening with his captivating mix of soul, rock, hip-hop and a message of hope and empowerment was Federal Way native Shyan Selah.

For the first time, Selah, a 1993 Federal Way High School graduate, brought his Café Noir Project tour to his home town. For 16 years, Selah, based in Hollywood, has effected change in communities with his music.

“My core message is empowerment,” Selah said. “We always have the power of choice. The idea of my music is to share stories of when I have had the power of choice. My real trade is inspiration. I’m an inspirer who does music.”

In the early 2000s, as musicians were searching for new ways to thrive in an online marketplace, Selah discovered the power of community outreach as a means to strengthen his brand, build his fanbase, and tie him to causes he had a passion for.

“It was born from me wanting to share with kids that they could see job opportunities in entertainment in a more practical light,” Selah said.

He started visiting schools and sharing with students how they could apply their technical skills to behind-the-scenes type jobs in entertainment. For example, Selah said there is so much that goes into filming a three-minute music video.

“Being in these areas of community outreach helped me to be successful,” Selah said. “All of a sudden I was so much more than a rap artist.”

Selah said his first outreach event was in Beverly Hills, performing for 1,000 people at an AIDS awareness benefit.

“That’s when I knew this was a venue for me,” Selah said.

Over the past decade, Selah has performed benefit concerts supporting race relations, social awareness and crisis issues.

“Making sense of these things, and to do that through entertainment, has been really effective at pulling people back together,” Selah said.

Four years ago, Selah came up with the idea to bring his message of hope into Starbucks coffeehouses.

“As an entrepreneur and inspirer, I’m always looking at doing something new,” he said. “It was a little against the grain from a music marketing standpoint, but it was really effective.”

Selah started out performing at the 23rd and Jackson Starbucks in Seattle’s Central District.

“There is a really nice music history there with every walk of race,” Selah said. “I performed twice a week for a few months.”

As a result of Selah’s performances, the 23rd and Jackson Starbucks showed positive gains in coffee sales. A friend of Selah’s in Starbucks’ corporate center put him in touch with the company’s executive vice president, and she gave him her blessing.

The two started building a road map for Selah to perform at other Starbucks across the United States.

“The Café Noir Project is the experience of me going from coffeehouse to coffeehouse,” Selah said.

The Café Noir Project live album is now on Apple music and Spotify. A full recorded album, Selah said, will be out in June and sold at stores like Target, Best Buy, f.y.e. and online on iTunes.

Selah is also connecting back to the Federal Way School District via a partnership between Apple and his Brave New World music label. Twenty students from Illahee Middle School will go on a field trip to the Tacoma Mall Apple Store where they’ll be exposed to applications like iBook, iTunes and iMovies and learn how they can be utilized for more than just their social aspects. Following the field trip, Selah said there will be workshops where students can practice what they learned.

Selah is also looking to sign artists to his label that believe in leveraging their talents to benefit social causes. Each artist will have a project they will focus on, which in turn will help market their brand.

“We’re not forsaking traditional marketing,” Selah said. “But we wanted to make sure we had a sustainable model and build new fans. It’s important to let people you know that you care.”