When All Else Fails, Smoke Weed and Rap With Wyclef in Your Campaign Ad!

09.29.2014 | Matt Fox |

If you just randomly happened to stumble upon this music video-slash-campaign ad, you might forget that Colorado has already legalized marijuana. That’s clearly of little concern to Mike Dunafon, an independent libertarian gubernatorial candidate in Colorado who feels so passionately about weed that he decided to light up a doob with Wyclef Jean and join him for a full-fledged hip-hop video.

The song is called “The Trap,” and it’s rather interesting to note that Wyclef has teamed up with a libertarian, when I’ve always thought of him as a staunch liberal. They’ve actually now appeared together at several events, including a 4/20 rally earlier this year. I’d hazard to guess that means Jean is a libertarian, for better or worse. I suppose it’s easy to forget sometimes that there’s more than one political party with disdain for George W. Bush. After all, Wyclef Jean was among the former president’s more vocal musical critics. But I do have to ask: at what point did Wyclef go from teaming up with celebrities like Shakira and Kenny Rogers to collaborations with…Mike Dunafon?

All of that aside, the song isn’t actually as bad as some of the more awful political tunes (rap and otherwise) that we’ve heard over the years. This one actually has an Everlast vibe. Not that I plan on listening to it again or anything.

The Dunafon campaign summed up the collaboration this way in a statement to The Denver Post:

“Audiences of all ages will identify with the citizens locked in the major-party cage. Jean and Dunafon’s message is that if you’re sick of party politics, and you want to get the money out, an independent governor is the best choice for Colorado, because he is not taking money from vested interests, and is willing to talk about the most divisive issues: local control over fracking, the release of non-violent cannabis prisoners, and investing to create a world-class cannabis and hemp industry in Colorado.”

The Post piece also points out that Dunafon is a former Denver Broncos receiver who became the mayor of Glendale after city fathers attempted to shut down the strip clubs in his small town. In other words, he’s pretty badass.

But was his ad better than the one released just a few days ago from another gubernatorial hopeful, Anne Armstrong of Rhode Island?

Wow. Good thing these two aren’t opponents, or this could have gotten ugly. I would have loved to see a Battle of the Munchies.

Matt Fox

Senior Editor

Fox has history in broadcasting that spans two decades. From his early days as an FM host and club DJ in the mid-90′s to his later experiences in political talk radio, he has always had a knack for combining topical news with his love for popular culture. Those experiences culminated in his position as executive producer for several radio shows featured in the TALKERS Heavy 100. Originally from New York, Fox has made the great pilgrimage down to sunny south Florida.

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