Why I have put my trust in young voters more than politicians
I remember the first time we tried to get a record into a store. It was 1984 and Rick Rubin and I dropped off a box of LL Cool J's "I Need A Beat" records at a record store somewhere in midtown Manhattan. We shrink-wrapped the records with the original burgundy "Def Jam Recordings" logo on them. Nobody really knew what the record sounded like (and they couldn't open them either, cause they were wrapped), but within 24 hours the entire box of records was sold. Gone. So, we dropped off another box, with the same label. And they sold out again. Def Jam was born.
I was 26 and Rick was 21. Just two b-boys who wanted to rock the party. But the thing was, Rick and I believed in this music. We believed in what we created. We believed in ourselves. We believed in Def Jam. Two kids who believed that we had the ability to create hot music and, one day, maybe change the word. We were young, we were optimistic, but at that the same time, we were being told by older people, especially in the music business, that rap music would never become popular. We kept working, we kept believing, and we kept making hot records. And the artists kept creating magic...LL, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, DMX, Foxy, Jay-Z, Kanye, Rick Ross...
As much as we accomplished as young kids in the 80's, it doesn’t compare to what young people did twenty years later with the election of Barack Obama, one of the greatest achievements of any generation in the history of this country. I remember when Barack was down in the polls by 25% in the late fall of 2007. Most of my friends had written him off. Most people in America had written him off. It was young people who believed that he could win. They didn't are about the polls or the so-called experts. They believed. They believed that could knock on every door, in every community and convince American that we could create a more perfected union. The same belief that young Rick Rubin and I had when we dropped off LL Cool J's "I Need A Beat" at the record store...that no matter how young we were, we could make history.
Four years later, young people are called on again. This time is quite different. This time is not like the first. But, nevertheless, this time young voters have the same amount of power. And just like in 2008, it is not only about showing up on election day, but about showing up now. It’s about engaging in issues you care about and forcing the candidates to talk about them and, ultimately, forcing the President to act on them. Young people have the opportunity to not just shape the next four years, but the next forty years.
We are at the beginning of a very exciting time for America. I started GlobalGrind.com because I believed that young people, inspired by the President and of course by hip-hop as well, yearned for a post-racial America. An America that celebrates our diversity, but also recognizes the wounds that we have suffered. It is this younger generation that I put my most faith in to lead our country to this aspirational place. I may be supporting Obama, but that's just my choice. If young people really get involved and support the candidate that really speaks to them, I know that whoever wins on Election Day will have to spend the next four years working for them. That is the incredible power that they hold!
