Los Angeles-based hip-hop crew Sa-Ra Creative Partners may have its origins in the music industry, but it has gone all-out political in 2008.
Sa-Ra frontman Taz Arnold (also known as TI$A) has released a video called "Vote Obama" set to a track by eccentric L.A. sound experimentalist Daedalus and starring pals like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Chris Brown and others.
And it’s a total riot.
Shot throughout Los Angeles at iconic landmarks like the Watts Towers and the Venice boardwalk, the video shows TI$A coughing up the silliest rhymes on Earth — like "What ya mamasay/I’m-a vote Obama way," "This is real and not for play" or myfavorite, "He hood/We votin’!" while surrounded by everyone fromcheering passersby to the usual stock of rap video hotties.
All of this set to Daedalus‘ laid-back disco beats, no doubt the simplest sonics he’s ever crafted, and he even shows up in his usual tight white suit to bust a couple body-rocking moves. So does one-time guerrilla graphic designer Shep Fairey, whose Obama poster is plastered all over the video.
While TI$A’s toasting may be somewhat hilarious, it’s nice to see artists erasing the nonexistent line between art and politics to have a little fun during a time of political tension and intrigue. According to the returns from the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries last night, TI$A, Daedulus, Fairey, Chris Brown and Kanye may soon have the candidate they want.
And they got to have fun the whole time, which is lot more than KRS-One, Public Enemy, MC Lyte and more got to have during their legendary 1989 black-on-black crime video "Self-Destruction." Times have changed, people. Times have changed.
