New year, new mission. Waka Flocka Flame is using the start of 2012 to talk about something bigger than music: bullying. The Brick Squad rapper has launched the #WakaNewYear anti-bullying campaign, a push aimed at young fans that says the teasing, the intimidation, and the online pile-ons have to stop — and that respect is the resolution worth keeping.
It’s a side of Waka the world doesn’t always get to see. Since Flockaveli dropped, his name has meant turn-up anthems and the loudest shows in rap. But talk to the people around him — including his mother and manager, Deb Antney, who has been out front on school and cyberbullying issues herself — and they’ll tell you the community work runs just as deep as the music. The campaign’s message to kids is direct: nobody deserves to be picked on, and speaking up for somebody else is never soft.
The timing matters, too. With stories of bullied teens making headlines, artists with real reach among young listeners carry a kind of influence no assembly speaker can match. When a rapper his fans actually listen to says the bullying has to end, the conversation changes. The #WakaNewYear tag is the invitation: fans are being asked to spread the word online and carry the same energy into their schools and neighborhoods.
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