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

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www.DoItAllForNewark.com

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MJ Savino

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 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"!