Hip-Hop For President

Here is the first preview of the Hip-Hop For President documentary, more footage, more interviews to come on-line check back daily, post comments or email us if you want to become a Hip-Hop For President reporter.

Run DMC front man and MTV reality show star, Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons, is penning a new book and planning a tour across America, challenging parents to take back their families.
Simmons recently received a deal with Gotham Books for over $1 million. The Penguin imprint will publish his latest book, written with wife Justine Simmons, which offers their keys to successful parenting and maintaining a productive family.
The Simmons family, kids included, have also planned a mobile, multi-media, US book tour to promote their latest endeavor. The official title has not been announced, but it is scheduled for release in 2008.
Rev. Run has previously published two other books Rev. Run’s Words of Wisdom, published last year on Harper Collins’ Amistad imprint and It’s Like That: A Spiritual Memoir. Justine Simmons is the author of God Can You Hear Me?, the first in a planned series of spiritual children’s books.
Since MTV’s “Run’s House” debut in 2005, the Simmons family has entertained and intrigued households around the world.

Darryl “DMC” McDaniels Backs Hillary Clinton “Because it’s Gangsta”

Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of the legendary group, Run-DMC, attended his first political fund-raiser at the Capitale nightclub in New York City last week for Democratic Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. According to The New York Observer, DMC is juggling his decision to back either Clinton or Barack Obama. Apparently, DMC believes Barack “could fix everything,” but is leaning towards Clinton “because it’s gangsta [and] I ain’t doing what everybody else is doing.”

“He [Obama] is probably the best man for the job because he don’t really got to worry about people, taking people’s sides,” DMC told The Observer. “Like, Hillary has people she dealt with for years and sometimes she might have to make a decision and tell these people, ‘F you, I got to do this,’ and they’re going to get mad at her. But see, with Barack right now, he can look at the whole landscape.”

When The Observer asked whether Barack would do a better job as President than Clinton, DMC responded. “I didn’t say that. I said he would come and fix everything. Hillary, she can fix everything, too. But it’s a little easier for Barack because he hasn’t been around as much. He’s been in the Senate and doing those things.” DMC continued to say. “I have faith in Hillary. I just [think] Barack would have nobody to worry about. He’s like Run-DMC wearing Adidas into a Reebok [or] Nike party. People got to respect that.”

The debate is raging, Rudy, Mitt, McCain, Thompson, who will be the Republican candidate. This narrative is almost as interesting as the Hilary/Obama saga that will play out.  Hip-Hop For President will be covering every angle, from a different perspective. A perspective of youth, of issues that are important to the 18-35 demographic. Pushing the vote, pushing a change.

Hip-Hop for President will be the first film to look at how the influence and personalities of Hip-Hop Culture have become a voice in American politics. The film begins with a look at the 2004 presidential election and the influential Vote or Die: Citizen Change campaign that was headed by P. Diddy and other celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Keys, and Mary J. Blige. The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Russell Simmons, and Dr. Ben Chavis launched the groundbreaking voter registration drive. The film will look at the results of these separate but combined statements by Hip-Hop culture to unite and register voters from outside the mainstream media machine.  The results and impact of the two campaigns upon the 2004 election will be juxtaposed to the efforts that will lead into the 2008 presidential election.

There will be pre-election interviews with the key figures and their thoughts on what will transpire for the presidential election of 2008. A coalition of core artists, journalists, and politicians such as Andersen Copper, Jon Stewart, Sway, Su Chin Paki, Al Gore, Rosa Clemente, and Jesse Jackson, Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger will intersect with the high-profile voices of Hip-Hop. Russell Simmons, Sean Combs, Jay-Z, Nas, and Eminem, will set the tone for the film from the beginning. As a non-partisan film, Hip-Hop for President will look at the presence of Hip-Hop Culture within the Republican Party as it influences the election. A great example of this is what happened with the College Republicans in Gainesville, Florida. A group gathered outside Gainesville’s O’Connell Center before a Kanye West concert to show their support of President Bush. Hip-Hop is mainstream America, both Democrats and Republicans will look to better harness the power of Hip-Hop culture as it grows ever more influential heading into the 2008 election. This film will succeed in capturing those moments.

As the candidates begin to campaign, the film will travel with the politicians and document how they are positioning their race for the highest office in the land. Who will be the first candidate to address publicly the issues that are important to Hip-Hop? How will Hip-Hop’s adopted leader Bill Clinton factor in the voice of change in America?  Will Hilary embrace Hip-Hop culture as she has done in the past? Once a pivotal thread has established, Hip-Hop for President will document the high-profile, political events attended by Hip-Hop stars and Hollywood celebrities to endorse their chosen candidates. Some of the players are Eminem, Chuck D, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, Tom Cruise, The Black Eyed Peas, Jack Black, Ben Affleck, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt for the Democratic Party. Vincent Gallo, 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Jessica Simpson, Angie Harmon, Vince Vaughn, and Bruce Willis, to name a few, in support of the Republican Party. The film will go inside the presidential race from every angle. Our cameras will be at all the primaries to analyze what goes on when the mudslinging starts. Through the eyes of the Hip-Hop generation, Hip-Hop for President will be a perceptive, political documentary.

Targeting the youth culture, Hip-Hop for President is a unique examination of the political landscape that affects every American citizen. 2008 will be a groundbreaking year in Washington, and the cameras of Hip-Hop for President will be on hand to document every aspect of it.

At the National Conventions, Hip-Hop for President will use two-man video crews to follow delegates and correspondents such as a Vincent Gallo or a Kanye West.  They will document the nomination of each presidential candidate and their speeches, while talking to celebrities on the floor and in the backrooms about the upcoming election.  The anti-war protests and pro-war rallies will be covered simultaneously during each of the conventions and overlaid during the most volatile part of the election: the nomination and acceptance speeches.

The film will shoot press corps footage of presidential candidates as they make their way through Florida, Ohio, and California. Sponsored production vans will carry film crews to these cities to get exclusive looks at the candidates as they make their way across the country. We will also be on the bus with each of the bi-partisan voter registration campaigns, The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s Team Vote and Vote or Die: Citizen Change. We will incorporate TV News and Sunday Morning shows, Fox News and Radio talk shows.

Welcome to Hip-Hop For President