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Just ask those French malcontents belting out “La Marseillaise” after they stormed the Bastille — it ain’t a real revolution until you’ve got good song to rally the masses.
Enter local rapper La Guardia, who picked up a mic a few weeks back after catching video of the Occupy Wall Street movement. With the help of some other Miami artists, he’s put together his rap to the crew camping out at Government Center: “We Are the 99 Percent.” Check out the video:
Riptide caught La Guardia at home in Cutler Bay to talk about the track.
He started working on the song after Subhash Kateel, an activist and cohost of radio show “Let’s Talk About It,” called to suggest putting an Occupy anthem together.
The more he read about the movement, the more he wanted to rap about the cause.
“Everybody’s been dealing with the same issues,” he says. “I’ve dealt with unemployment, with not being able to find work, and I think everything is just out of balance. The one percent are living unfairly at the expense of the 99 percent.”
La Guardia hooked up with singer Fernando Castro and producer Devin Arne, then paired the song with images of Occupy supporters.
He says he hopes the track inspires a few more Miamians to check out the scene at Government Center, where 60 or so protesters are entering their third morning today occupying the public plaza.
“The song represents the way we’re feeling about this movement,” he says. “If people feel it and want to spread it around and spread word about the movement, that’s great.”
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