With the presidential
elections looming, various Hip-Hop related activist groups are hoping to get
youth to the polls to vote, by using various artists’ celebrity muscle
and grassroots marketing tactics.
The Violator All
Star DJ’s have teamed with Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and will produce a
mixtape that will be given out until election day.
Spearheaded by
Violator’s Scrap Dirty and Dr. Benjamin Chavis, the goal is to reach potential
voters in a way that is familiar to them.
"The DJ’s
are stepping up in the major markets, to utilize their vantage point of having
access to the airwaves, to give that additional level of encouragement to listeners,"
Dr. Chavis told AllHipHop.com. "Urban radio is the drumbeat of the Hip-Hop
community. We are grateful that they have stepped up to the plate in a historic
way, to help ensure millions of Hip-Hop lovers cast their votes."
The Violator mixtape
will be distributed nationwide on The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s GOTV Bus
Tour, along with the "Wake up Everybody" campaign, that was announced
in August.
The "Wake
Up" campaign also features an all-star cast that remade Harold Melvin &
The Blue Notes’ hit “Wake up Everybody.”
“This song
is the spirit of the country and all these artists have the will to change it,
empower the young voters and create a movement for people to vote and change
the current administration,” producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds
said of the recording.
The CD features
songs from Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Eve, Brandy, Jamie Foxx, Jadakiss,
Fabolous, Jaheim, Faith Evans, Ashanti, Claudette Ortiz (City High) Reverend
Run, and many more.
“We are going
to shock a lot of people, whether it’s the Democrats or the Republicans,”
Fabolous said. “It’s going to be a revolutionary turnout & it’s going
to shock the world. They are going to pick the president….the Hip-Hop community."
The goal is to
lure 18 to 24 year-olds to the polls, with hopes that the younger voters can
make a difference in deciding the President of the United States of America,
as Fabolous predicted.
Additionally, Sean
Combs’ Citizen Change kicked off a tour of the swing states today to help galvanize
potential voters.
Another Hip-Hop
themed get-out-and vote campaign launched in August, Slambush.
Late last month,
14 underground rappers and street poets from 9 swing states competed in the
Slam Bush National Championship. In addition to performances by The Roots, the
event was hosted by Chuck D.
Vanessa German,
28, won the first ever Slam Bush National Rhyme Competition. German’s poem thanked
Bush for making it easier to get a tech9 or an AR14 (automatic assault weapons)
than it was to get a pap smear or a good education.
Jamie Foxx, a participant
in the “Wake Up Everybody” campaign, said the politically charged
atmosphere in the United States should be used to young voters benefit.
"In a way,
I’m glad that we do have these troubles going on right now,” Foxx said.
“It’s really going to get us aware and get young people involved in this
country and not just be."