2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly

POLITICS
MY SHELTER PETS ARE
MY BEST FRIENDS
OLIVIA MUNN WITH CHANCE AND FRANKIE:
ADOPTED 2014 AND 2016.
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Be a mentor.
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How did Tupac Shakur awaken your
political side?
Twenty-one years old, Orlando,
Florida. We’re in a motel. We were on
tour.... Pac came to my motel room. He
had a T-shirt in his arm, a Newport
behind his ear, and a 40-ounce of malt
liquor. He came to my room after a
disagreement.... I’m expecting him
to be confrontational, and he wasn’t.
These were like peace offerings.... He
started saying, ‘Dude, we can’t move
from where we’re from.’” He said all
the popular rappers back then—Common
in Chicago, me and Redman in
Newark, Treach in East Orange, Ice
Cube in South Central, himself in
Oakland—have to stay where we were
raised at. And then we have to turn all
of our fans into voters so that they can
vote for us in elections. And I was like,
“‘Vote for us!? What do you mean?’”
He said, ‘Yeah, we have to deal with
legislation. If we don’t do that, those
laws will never be made for us.’ I said,
‘Man, we rappers. We’re not no politicians.’
He said, ‘That’s our problem. We
have to get to the table and be included
in the conversation.’ I had never heard
anybody that young, my peer, or my age
talk like that.
All the things that we spoke of in that
room, I’ve actually done…. I know he’s
looking down, as they say, but I just pray
and wish that he could’ve been there,
man. I know he would’ve been smiling.
But then again, he might have been the
mayor of Oakland or the governor of
California or something by now.
Being a hometown rapper, you had
name recognition in your election.
But did anyone try to peg you as ‘just
a rapper’ who wasn’t fit for this job?
Yes. Remember, I ran in 2018, and we
lost it. It wasn’t a loss, but we didn’t
get the seat. It shows you that popularity
does not win elections. Votes win
elections, and you have to really run the
right campaign to make those people
in your community believe in you. The
only way they’re gonna believe in you
in cities like Newark is if they can see
the receipts of the work that you have
done.... I am the young, male child in
our community that our ancestors and
our elders prayed for. You prayed for
36 SEPTEMBER 2022 NJMONTHLY.COM