Russell Simmons Lays Out Massive Rap Protest Plan, “We Can Go Up There W/ 100,000 People”

Written By S. Samuel

Rap mogul Russell Simmons is continuing to mesh hip-hop and politics after showing a demonstration at the Occupy Wall Street protest last week by revealing plans to put together a new movement.

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Building off the strength rappers like Kanye West displayed at the Wall Street protest, Simmons said a high profile

“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)

Yesterday, Southern rapper David Banner shared his opinion on high profile entertainers’ lack of connectivity with the public.

“One of my only criticisms of hip-hop right now is that we all — like everybody — we can’t separate ourselves,” he explained in an interview. “All of us have become so corporate that people don’t even feel like we’re a part of the people, especially rappers and punk rockers. People always felt like we were them. We were their voice…When their children are out there is when it becomes a movement. And I used to fight that and be mad at that, but what we got to understand is, in every movement, even in the ’60s, young, white, middle-class people were a major part of the movement. We have to stop separating ourselves.” (MTV)

Last week, Simmons and Kanye West became involved with 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)

The Wall Street protest has lasted for over an entire month.

For 25 days, hundreds of protesters have loudly opposed corporate greed in New York City and Boston. Occupy Wall Street (OWS) describes itself as a “horizontally organized resistance movement employing the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to restore democracy in America.” Democrats and Republicans are taking sides in favor and against the infant movement, making comparisons to the Tea Party. The media is taking hold. There is even an Occupy Sesame Street, which parodies the Wall Street movement, maintaining its own Facebook page and receiving recognition on The Colbert Report and Fox News. (Technorati)

Check out Russell Simmons & Kanye West at Occupy Wall Street below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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