INTERVIEW | HIP HOP LEGEND DOITALL @DOITALLDU ENTERS THE REALM OF POLITICS

True Hip Hop heads know that Rap is not Hip Hop, it is an ele­ment of Hip Hop.  There are far and few artists who undeni­ably rep­res­ent Hip Hop as a cul­ture and all of its ele­ments.  What seems to be lost in today’s day in age is the ele­ment of knowledge…Hip Hop legend and pion­eer DoItAll from Lords of the Under­ground has taken a pledge to form­ally give back to the com­munit­ies and bor­oughs of soci­ety by run­ning for Coun­cil­man-At-Large for Newark, NJ.  25 years ago Hip Hop was intro­duced to The Lords, and now 25 years later “Chief Rocka” is rock­ing the polit­ic­al realm.

On May 8th be part of his­tory in the mak­ing, be part of unity, and be part of change! Vote B5 for DoItAll Dupre Kelly Coun­cil­man-at-Large for Newark, New Jersey!

The Mes­sage, “When you love your city you can change it!”

MJ:   First and fore­most, salute to a strong and prom­in­ent 25 years in Hip Hop, and the enter­tain­ment busi­ness as a whole! For those who don’t know you have starred in some Indie Films as well as Law and Order, Oz, and even the Soprano’s! So why polit­ics? What pos­sesses a renowned and cel­eb­rated Hip Hop artist to open the door of politics?

DoItAll: Thank you! My decision is an accu­mu­la­tion of many things. One being a Hip Hop Artist. That allowed me to travel the world and to be able to see firsthand how dif­fer­ent coun­tries and dif­fer­ent cit­ies use the cul­ture of Hip Hop to gal­van­ize people in their com­munit­ies. Anoth­er decision was based on my time being around elec­ted offi­cials in the great city of Newark NJ. That allowed me to be a fly on the wall and learn who was work­ing on the people’s behalf and who was not. Lastly, the decision was based on a con­ver­sa­tion that I had with Tupac Shak­ur over 20 years ago about how Hip Hop Artists need to become as pop­u­lar as we can so that we would be able to go back to our per­spect­ive cit­ies to cre­ate big and bet­ter youth ini­ti­at­ive pro­grams and to be able to start non­profit organ­iz­a­tions as well as run for polit­ic­al office.  A goal so we can dir­ectly and effect­ively vote on Laws, Ordin­ances, policies & issues that con­cern the residents.

MJ:  You men­tioned on the radio how early on in your music career about that pro­found con­ver­sa­tion with Tupac.  I think of the irony with that con­ver­sa­tion as Tupac was extremely polit­ic­al with his rhymes and known for preach­ing to his fel­low artists about com­ing togeth­er and chan­ging the world.  If he was still with us how would that con­ver­sa­tion flow today?  I can envi­sion Tupac being one of your biggest supporters!

DoItAll: Tupac would have most likely have fol­lowed his own advice and entered into polit­ics himself.

MJ:  You have a power­ful cam­paign fol­lowed by pat­rons of every walk and cul­ture of life from our youth to seni­ors.  Can you share some of the imme­di­ate changes you plan on devel­op­ing in the city of Newark?

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DoItAll: I will fight for the city to make a great­er invest­ment into our youth. For example, the city had a sum­mer jobs pro­gram that was under fun­ded. 5000 young people applied and only 2500 were placed into jobs. In our city every child deserves to have the opportunity.

MJ:  Aside from the cam­paign you have oth­er endeavors height­en­ing this new year.  Tell us about those.

DoItAll: I have a few film pro­jects that are on hold until the cam­paign is over as well as a 25-year anniversary tour and music com­ing with my group Lords of the Underground.

MJ:  As a fan I have to say thank you! Thank you for con­tinu­ing to cre­ate time­less music and bless­ing fans with 25+ years of longevity!

DoItAll: We’re still at it. We just came back from Switzer­land. We do about 60–100 shows a year!

MJ:  Let’s take it back to music.  As a vet, what jew­els can you drop for up and com­ing artists?  What would you say is needed for them to truly embrace the essence and ele­ments of Hip Hop?

DoItAll: I would say Hip Hop was always used as a plat­form where you could tell or showed people how you and your fam­ily, friends, loved ones or your peers were liv­ing the cul­ture. The nar­rat­ors of the cul­ture are the rap­pers. I would tell these rap­pers to nar­rate what they see and how they are liv­ing the cul­ture. I would also tell them to be mind­ful of the influ­ence they have over a weak or impres­sion­able mind and deliv­er a mes­sage. Util­ize your plat­form to inspire.

MJ:  Are you hope­ful the DoItAll for Newark Cam­paign will encour­age and empower those artists to become more involved with­in their communities?

DoItAll: Yes. I pray that I am the spark for artists who are more pop­u­lar than I am. I want them to go back to their com­munit­ies to do great work.

MJ:  As we wrap up, please let every­one know how they can donate to the cam­paign and con­tin­ue to sup­port you and “Raise The Torch”.

DoItAll: People can donate to the Doitall for Newark@ Move­ment by Tex­ting “Doitall” to 973–846-2211 (wait for a quick text back).  Donate from $1 to $2,600. If any­one donates any­thing over $2,600 I will have to send it back.

MJ:  Thank you for tak­ing the time for our read­ers, it has been an hon­or!  It is refresh­ing to exper­i­ence a polit­ic­al cam­paign with a can­did­ate who is genu­inely for the people, his com­munity, and the city as a whole! This is far from new for you. You have been giv­ing back to the city of Newark for over dec­ades and provid­ing count­less plat­forms for growth and suc­cess! I vote B5!

DoItAll: Thank you!  Just remem­ber when people love their city they can change it!

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DoItAll Addresses the City of Newark

DoItAll Live on Sway in the Morning

DoItAll Live on ESPN

www.DoItAllForNewark.com

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MJ Savino

MJ is Hip Hop Blog­ger, Pub­li­cist, Book­ing Agent, Act­iv­ist, but fan first and fore­most. “Hip Hop saved my life, it is only right I give back to the culture”!

About MJ Savino

MJ is Hip Hop Blogger, Publicist, Booking Agent, Activist, but fan first and foremost. "Hip Hop saved my life, it is only right I give back to the culture"!