Gmac Cash, a Detroit rapper renowned for turning topical songs into viral hits, is back with another track.
His newest music video is an endorsement of Hill Harper, the actor and activist who is running for U.S. Senate in Michigan.
“If you’re tired of working harder, vote Hill Harper,” he raps. “If we’re trying to move smarter, vote Hill Harper. See it in big bold letters, ‘Vote Hill Harper.’ Gotta believe in better. Vote Hill Harper.”
The song, dubbed “Vote Hill Harper,” was released over the weekend and has whipped up more than 16,000 views on YouTube already.
Harper is featured in the video, swaying to the beat and talking to Detroiters outside the Detroit Institute of the Arts.
The race pits the progressiver Harper against frontrunner U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a moderate Democrat. They are vying for the seat held by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring.
The nearly 90-second track includes an interview with Harper, who points out that only 12 Black people have ever served in the U.S. Senate.
“What we’re trying to do is extremely rare,” Harper says.
The catchy song lists Harper’s credentials and suggests Harper is an unstoppable force.
“We’re talking actor, author, father, activist, union leader, and Harvard Law school graduate,” Cash raps. “Once he get in, trust me, it ain’t no stopping him. He going to bring the fight for us all to Washington.”
Cash has a history of churning out viral, infectious tracks that provide commentary about current events. In 2020, he released “Justice for Ahmaud,” an emotional song dedicated to Amaud Arbery, the unarmed Black man slain by two white men while jogging in his Georgia neighborhood. The video sparked national outrage, petitions, and pleas for justice before the killers were arrested.
“I actually cried writing that song,” Cash told Metro Times just after posting the song. “Before I do a song, I read about it. I read about seven articles, watched about 10 to 20 videos on the situation, and it brought out a lot of emotion, a lot of tears.”
Less than a week before releasing “Justice for Ahmaud,” Cash dropped “Big Gretch,” a hilarious tribute to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, her decisive response to the coronavirus, and her nickname, which had been bestowed upon her by Black Twitter.
In April, Cash released two songs — “Detroit Sign” and “Detroit Sign 2” — mocking Detroit’s new “Hollywood”-style sign that was relentlessly criticized by the public.
“One thing I’ma do, I’ma state the facts/ this ain’t the sign that we wanted, you can take it back,” he rapped in the 1-minute song that quickly went viral.
In “Detroit Sign 2,” Cash raps, “They done went and put the sign up in some lights, I ain’t gonna lie, it kinda look alright/ but that’s only when you ride past it at night, I’m sick y’all got me bout to rap about this sign twice.”
In August 2022, Cash whipped up a song about Belle Isle’s giant slide after it became too dangerous to ride.
Also in 2022, he released a track, “Gretch Did,” about the gubernatorial election” and “Go Blue” about University of Michigan beating Ohio State University in the annual rivalry football game.
As the Detroit Lions went on a tear last season, Cash dropped, ”Lions Won Again.”
