For the past week and a half, the nation’s eye has been focused on the surmounting protests in Wisconsin over Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to bar unions’ collective bargaining rights. Now, Pittsburgh emcee Jasiri X expressed his support for the protesters by filming a music video on location in Wisconsin.
According to the Pitsburgh Post Gazette, Jasiri X took to Madison, WI last week to film a video for his latst track “American Workers vs. Multi-Billionaires” amidst the 70,000 protesters. Apparently, Jasiri was initially scheduled as a keynote speaker for a Black History Month celebration at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, but decided to take a detour in the capital for the revolt.
“I had written the song a week before it all happened,” he said. “I went to D.C. to do this interview on the Russian Today network and met some people who were really into politics, and this guy told me, ‘You know, the next issue is really gonna be the budget.’ I thought about how these decisions are being made by millionaires and billionaires, but they affect people who are most in need. That was the concept of the song, and it was mind-boggling when all this happened.”
He also added, “It was an awesome feeling because of the unity of it, especially going into the state house. The people were so nice and it was a happy, jovial atmosphere. People weren’t down. They were genuinely happy – drumming, dancing, singing. It was literally so loud that I couldn’t hear the song unless I had earphones in.”
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This isn’t Jasiri X’s first foray into massive political rallies. He also took to the G-20 summit protests in Pittsburgh in 2009 for the premiere of the third season of his Internet radio show “This Week with Jasiri X.”
The full video for “American Workers vs. Multi-Billionaires” can be seen below.
