With the Republican National Convention going down this week in the Big Apple, lots of folks in the music world are voicing their opinions about this year's presidential election.
We've heard from many who adore President George W. Bush: rockers Ted Nugent, Gene Simmons of Kiss, country singer Toby Keith. Bush's camp reports that pop tart Jessica Simpson endorses its candidate.
Of course, many musicians are vocal about not wanting Bush back in the White House come January.
The hip-hop community has been one of the most vocal genres. Or didn't you notice Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys not-so-subtly tugging on his superfly green jumper while presenting an award at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday?
Ad-Rock wanted viewers at home to glimpse his " W" patch - the one with the bright red circle and slash through it.
Apparently, Ad-Rock wants Bush out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Ad-Rock's cohorts in the Beasties, MCA and Mike D., presumably, concur.
Check out the lyrics to In A World Gone Mad from the Boys' recent To The 5 Boroughs. The words are scathingly critical of the president's decision to go to war with Iraq and of his positions on health care:
First the "War On Terror"
now war on Iraq
We're reaching a point
where we can't turn back
Let's lose the guns
and let's lose the bombs
Stop the corporate contributions
that they're built upon Toward the song's end:
What am I on crazy pills?
We've got to stop it
Get your hand out
my grandma's pocket
We need health care
more than going to war
You think it's democracy
they're fighting for?
It's not just the Boys mouthing off against W.
Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and Eve collaborated on a remake of Wake Up Everybody, the classic R&B jam by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes used in 1976 to mobilize black voters to go to the polls for Jimmy Carter.
The song will appear on an album to be released Sept. 16 benefiting America Coming Together, a veteran liberal activist group working to get Bush out of office.
Other performers on the album include Jadakiss, Reverend Run of Run-D.M.C., Brandy, Fabolous, Jaheim, and Faith Evans.
Scheduled Wednesday in New York was the gathering of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, featuring Mariah Carey, 50 Cent and P. Diddy, who has, admirably, been making his opinion known throughout the year on the need for young people to vote with his organization Citizens for Change.
The concert was to have been one in a series sponsored by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. The shows feature voter registration booths and information about the political process, right down to how to use the electronic voting machines in the polling booths.
(Russell is trying to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election, when many African-Americans charged that they had been wrongly excluded from voting.)
Also scheduled to perform Wednesday was Nas.
Don't call Nas "anti-Bush." The guy isn't thrilled with Sen. John Kerry either, judging by comments the rapper made last month at a show in New York. During that concert, the MC, whose seventh album, Street's Disciple, drops in October, took the stage after poet-musician Saul Williams, who had encouraged young people in the crowd to vote.
During a break in his set, according to Time Out New York, Nas discussed the upcoming election, calling both Bush and Kerry "devils."
Nas's prediction: Bush will win the election.
"Because he's more gangsta."
Ultimately, Nas concluded, "There is nobody to vote for."
Rap group Jurassic 5 and soul singer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds are on board for two of the Florida Oct. 8 Vote for Change concerts hosted by Moveon.org.
The shows, to be performed in crucial swing states in the nation, are political fund-raisers for ACT. (Other performers include Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Dixie Chicks.)
Sunday's MTV awards closed with hip-hop icons OutKast performing the hit Hey Ya! in a blizzard of placards, confetti, balloons and banners urging young people to vote.
The group's Andre 3000 is featured in a series of slick celebrity magazine ads, which also include glossy shots of Christina Aguilera with her mouth stitched closed.
Under their famous faces is the message:
Only You Can Silence Yourself.
Well, that wasn't exactly so in Florida, 2000.
But it's kind of comforting to know that the hip-hop world and its players are watching the system, trying to make sure this time it works.
-- Gina Vivinetto can be reached at 727 893-8565 or gina@sptimes.com
