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Power To Change It All
A new release from an up and coming hip hop artist/producer adds a much needed soundtrack to the new-found activism that is energizing young men and women of color. The song is “Power” and the artist’s name is Rell. He gave me an interview and allowed Socially Urban to debut the new song and video. The full interview can be read below the video.
Thanks for sitting down with us. What inspired the song “Power” and what message were you hoping to get across with it?
“My inspiration came from seeing how with this new government is running things and giving those who still live on and believe in racial inequality the green light to exhibit racial and bigoted behavior without any consequences.”
“I’m trying to get across to the black and brown culture that we have the ability to change this all. We have the numbers, the platforms and the influence but we have to come together with unity and educate our youth since they are our future lawyers, doctors, judges and politicians.”
The lyrics in the hook says “you have the power to change it all”. Is that message specifically for the youth of today? If so how hopeful are you that the new generation can change it all?
“That’s exactly what I was referring to. The younger generations are more inclusive and accepting of all regardless of Race, Religion, or Sexual Orientation. With hearts and minds like that, they are the answer to making the old, racist raised bigots in charge extinct.”
It’s pretty incredible that you did all of this yourself, and I think the finished product is impressive. How long did it take to write record and shoot a full video for this song?
“Thanks, I really appreciate you acknowledging the process and what it takes. I’m actually a certified audio engineer by way of Omega Studios School of Recording Arts and Sciences in Rockville, MD and I’ve been producing music since about 2003. I’ve always been a lyricist at heart ever since I can remember. Me and my cousin wrote our first song somewhere around the age of 8 or 9 I think. What’s crazy is I still remember my verse. It took me about 3 days to actually write “Power”. I’ve had the beat for a while but the vibe hit me only recently. I shot and edited the video in one day. All i had was a black backdrop, iMovie, DSLR camera and a vision. My cousin has always been my drive and motivation to continue my music journey. He was the first person to put me in a professional studio and ever since then I’ve been hooked and forever grateful. I’m attending Full Sail University now to get my Bachelors in Music to close the loop and become a triple threat in the music industry.”
I think this kind of music is very much in need right now in this racially charged political environment. When can we expect a full album like this from you?
“I’m looking to drop an album around the 4th quarter this year. Hopefully around August or September at the latest.”
I’d like to thank Rell for letting us debut his new video and letting us ask him a few questions. You can follow Rell at www.twitter.com/RellDaProducer and www.instagram.com/RellDaProducer to get updates on his new material.
Progressive Revolt
Since the election of Donald Trump democrats have found their voice, stiffened their spines and launched an unprecedented progressive revolt. We saw the first signs of how large this movement was during the women’s march in Washington DC on the weekend of Trump’s inauguration. Close to a million people showed up and dwarfed the crowd size of Trump’s inauguration supporters (which drove Trump absolutely crazy). People all over the country decided that Trump and his divisive, misogynistic, racist, Islamophobic, anti-intellectual brand of fascism can not be allowed to destroy this country. So of course the next logical step is to figure out how to successfully oppose him.
Trump did win the electoral vote and therefore won the presidency. But a huge majority of voters voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump. She got 3 million more votes than him (which also drives him crazy). This means we are the majority and there are ways to stop his legislative agenda from being enacted. The Tea Party who strongly opposed President Obama was able to grind the gears that produced new legislation and approves presidental appointees to a hault even when democrats held power in both houses. The Tea Party did this with a very small number of activist and with ideas that were very unpopular with a majority of Americans. If they were able to do all of that with small numbers and unpopular beliefs, imagine what progressives can do with huge numbers and mainstream ideas that makes sense.
Two weeks of Trump in office has already produced an unprecedented number of scandals and disasters.
- Broke his promise to “drain the swamp” and instead filled his cabinet with billionaires, former Goldman Sachs executives, and lobbiest.
- Lied about the size of his inauguration crowd & ordered the US Parks Dept to produce a photo that makes his crowd look larger than the protest, which of course they couldn’t do because no such photo exist.
- Made a narcissistic speech in front of a memorial wall that recognized slain CIA operatives.
- Made ignorant racist comments about civil rights hero John Lewis and belittled his contributions to America.
- Needlessly combative phone conversations with US allies & spent a large part of the conversations telling them how big his inauguration crowd was and how “bigly” his campaign win over Hilary was.
- Threatened to send troops into Mexico.
- Ordered his press secretary to give an angry scolding lecture to the press because they would not report his lie about how many atteneded his inauguration.
- Barred all government agencies from communicating with the press and the legislature.
- Launched a disastrous military mission which lead to the deaths of one US soldier, an American 8 year old little girl, a crashed military helicopter and at least 14 other civilian deaths which were mostly women and children. Inspite of all this Trump and his press secretary called the mission a success.
- Signed an executive order banning entry into the United States for 8 Muslim majority countries without consulting any agency outside of the White House which lead to chaos and confusion at airports and a large number of unconstitutional detainments.
- Fired acting Attorney General for not defending Trump’s unconstitutional Muslim ban / travel ban.
- Added political strategist (and white supremacist) Steve Bannon as a permanent member of the National Security Council while removing the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff as permanent members.
- Decided to make American tax payers pay for an unnecessary wall on our southern border instead of keeping his campaign promise to make Mexico pay for it.
- Used his speech at the national prayer breakfast to talk about how huge his ratings were on his former reality tv show The Apprentice compared to the new host Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings.
- Had General Flynn give a press conference to let Iran know we are “putting them on notice”, but did not explain what that meant and did not change our military posture. The White House didn’t even warn our military service members in the region that the “on notice” speech was coming.
Yes Donald Trump is President, but we need to recognize that his power as president is directly related to the amount of voices who stay silent. If the size of the opposition so far is an indicator of the size of the opposition movement ahead, Trump and his party’s hold on power is a lot weaker than any president we’ve seen in recent history. So don’t sit at home and live in fear of what might come next. Get involved! Check out the links below and post any information you may have about ways to get involved in the comment section.
Indivisible Action Guide Video
http://www.indivisibleguide.com
www.whatdoidoabouttrump.com
D5 Creation