S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Jay-Z is the latest hip-hop star to show support for the current Occupy Wall Street movement making its way across the United States and world.
Jay displayed his support for the movement at last night’s Watch the Throne tour stop in his New York City hometown.
Jay-Z isn’t trying to Occupy Wall Street, he’s trying to Occupy All Streets. While backstage at his Watch The Throne concert, Jay rocked an “Occupy All Streets” t-shirt, as he snapped a few pictures with his good friend Russell Simmons. Jay-Z and Kanye West told us that somebody watch the throne, and the critics should have listened. DETAILS: Jay-Z & Kanye West “Watch The Throne” Tour Dates While backstage at their Watch The Throne concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Jay-Z and Kanye were presented with platinum plaques for selling over a million records for Watch The Throne. (Global Grind)
G-Unit’s 50 Cent recently released a statement encouraging protestors to stay strong.
“I don’t want to do business with these f*ckers anymore. Do you? if a company isn’t giving back, stop buying from them. Buy a pair of shoes from TOMS (who give another pair to someone in need), look for companies that aren’t paying lip service to community / charity we are more powerful than the big business and politicians realize……we have the power to stop buying their products, banking with them. your dollar, that you worked hard for, does have power. together we can say – WAKE UP A-HOLES! The game is over. 50 cent – want to shout out to Occupy Wall Street groups around the world. You are waking up the world, including me. Please keep up the peaceful protest, you are making a difference” (Facebook) [sic]
Around mid-October, Kanye West showed his support for Occupy Wall Street.
Eyewitnesses described West and Simmons sitting down and talking with protesters around 2:00 pm, with their bodyguards in tow. Ben Fallah, a protester at the Occupy Wall Street site, tells Billboard, “Largely I felt the response was pretty mixed. Some felt [West and Simmons] were being opportunistic as a means to vault their own celebrity. Though in the case of Kanye West, I don’t really think that’s necessary.” (Billboard)
After showing support for the Occupy Wall Street NYC movement last month, where protestors are publicly opposing corporate power, rap mogul Russell Simmons hinted at a massive rap protest next year.
“In a minute, we’ll pick a date and we’re going to bring all the rappers and the community,” Simmons exclusively told XXL. “I think I’m going to have to do it. [The protestors] are going to be here all winter. We’ll pick a date that we can go up there with 100,000 people or so and do what we have to do. I think it has to be spring. I think that’s a realistic time.” This comes after Simmons told XXL last week that he’d be willing to go to prison over this, as he believes in the movement that much. Protesters have been clogging Zuccotti Plaza for over a month now, trying to take and balance out power from the powers that be in Washington and have the wealthy 1% give them back to majority 99%. (XXL Mag)
