Hip-Hop Artist Russell Simmons, chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, is "selling sneakers ... and registering voters ... in the 'hood."
Simmons is bored with music and clothing design so, like all bored celebrities, he's getting into politics.
Simmons is working to mobilize the country's "urban youth" to register to vote. It sounded like a good effort until we learned its real purpose.
Simmons tells Fortune magazine it's his responsibility to use his celebrity status "to create energy that will make a change, then it is the same as a social initiative. You can't avoid being political. You are part of a team. Your tax dollars. Your karma. If President Bush goes to war with my tax dollars and I think it is an unjust war and I don't speak up, then I am not doing my job as a citizen."
And it's not just Simmons. The artist says musicians Jay-Z, Puffy, Beyonce and Eminem (there's an interesting example of an American "patriot") all come to "Hip-Hop Summits" and contribute money.
"The collective consciousness of Hip-Hop is rising," says Simmons, and states that LL Cool J, Beyonce, Master P., Puffy, Snoop Dogg and others have hosted summits that registered nearly 200,000 voters in Houston, Philly and L.A., with the help of those cities' mayors.
"I've given to all the Democrats. But our registering voters is a nonpartisan effort," the rapper claims.
Right.
__________________
Hoyt Carbon Element RKT Blackout
Axcel Armourtech HD Sights
Easton Arrows
United Bowhunters of Pa. Member
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Hey man, Kerry is the shiznizzle, ya know what I'm sayin? He's bling blingin with his g's and ho's man, ya know what I'm sayin?
Shoot, if Kerry still had my vote, that would be enough to make him lose it. Hip-hop is the downfall of modern society.
__________________
πνεύμα γ*μισα
"Error never shows itself in its naked reality in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself."
-Irenaeus of Lyon
I saw something about this a month of so ago while flipping channel, it must have been MTV. The first thought that went through my mind is that there is a big difference between registering to vote and actaully voting. I would put a wager on the fact that a good number of these kids are registering just to meet a celebrity and won't be voting.
__________________
Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
Not at all. I've been floating around on the boards for a while, and this is the first thing I've read that you've written that I completely agree with. I had been hoping the day would come that there would be one thing that we agreed on.
__________________
Gun control? My gun. My control.
Semper Fi
Hip-Hop Artists for the Hip John Kerry
There's hope for you yet, fng.
