Don’t Vote For Mean People – Press Release

April 11 2011

Vancouver rap artist Baba Brinkman, the son of a Liberal candidate, has released a Youtube video for his new anti-Stephen Harper rap song “Don’t Vote For Mean People,” and it’s already generating some buzz, including tweets from prominent Canadian writers Margaret Atwood (Oryx and Crake) and Andrew Potter (The Rebel Sell).

Joyce Murray, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver Quadra and Brinkman’s mother, was quick to distance herself from the video, writing in her weekly campaign update: “I don’t always agree with every detail in his creative interpretation of the issues, but his raps are always entertaining.” Vancouver’s Georgia Straight newspaper ran a story pointing out that Murray was also promoting the song by mentioning it in her campaign material.

The music video was filmed at Murray’s campaign headquarters and features Liberal signage, but its message is entirely national in scope. Brinkman also departs from the Liberal Party line in advocating strategic voting for the NDP in ridings that are “heavily NDP polling.” The song calls Stephen Harper “a menace” and accuses him of “acting like a dictator”. Brinkman’s previous Youtube postings have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Joyce Murray is featured in the video, as is Brinkman’s fearsome grandmother Charlotte Murray, whose presence has drawn Youtube comments. In the Youtube notes Brinkman writes: “Yes, that is my grandma. I advise you not to mess with her.” He also includes a list of recent news stories about Conservative misdeeds under the heading “Mean stuff that Harper has done.”

The video can be viewed here.

And the song can be downloaded here for free.