Beanie Sigel and Wayne "Wayno" Clark have worked together on numerous occasions throughout their 20-year friendship. After everything they've cooked up over the years, the State Property rapper and the Roc-a-Fella Records alum — who currently serves as Vice President of A&R Quality Control Music — agree that their new effort to get people to the polls is their most important collaboration yet.
"We all collaborated together to basically head out to Detroit and hit the streets and talk to people from all walks of life," Wayno tells iHeartRadio. "We talk to all types of people and just speak about the importance of voting."
Beans and Wayno teamed up with Mobilize Justice and the AAPI Victory Fund to meet with the citizens of Detroit in an effort to help spread the word about voting ahead of the presidential election in November. On their first day in the Motor City, Beanie Sigel, Wayno and AAPI's Executive Vice President & COO Linh Nguyễn held productive meetings with an intimate group of influencers from various industries as well as Asian-American and Muslim-American backgrounds. They even sat down with Michighan's Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist.
"The goal was actually to educate the people," Sigel says. "Your voice does matter. We're giving out information on how they should vote and why they should vote. Even with this election right here, just to let them know it's more than just voting for two people. They look at the presidency, but there are other votes and issues that directly impact your community."
Their efforts to listen to the community continued the following day when they met with Detroit artists during a closed-door, invite-only discussion. Beans and Wayno heard from several creatives like QC rappers Baby Money and Icewear Vezzo. The Quality Control signee recently sparked conversations across various platforms when he and Peezy met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the former president's visit to Michigan in June.
Their meeting with the former president sparked a wave of backlash toward Peezy — an avid Trump supporter — and Vezzo, who's just getting his footing in the world of politics. At the meeting, the 34-year-old artist said he couldn't get into a campaign event or even get in touch with President Joe Biden's camp before POTUS dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Trump and Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy reached out to him directly to meet and speak with him.
"When [Vezzo] got a chance to express himself at the table, he said, 'I never even met the person who runs the district where I'm from,'" Wayno recalled. "He said he doesn't even dislike Biden or nothing, but he's just saying he wants to have a dialogue."
"He said, I think it was one of the Kennedy brothers had reached out to him and he came to his block," he continued. "He's like, 'He literally reached out to me, came to my block, sat spoke with me.' He said, even with Trump's people, he's like, 'They reached out to me.' He said he tried to reach out to Biden and he wasn't able to even get into an event. He said he doesn't even dislike Biden or nothing, but he's just saying he wants to have a dialogue."
AAPI Victory Fund and Mobilize Justice want to help fuel that dialogue. AAPI Victory Fund is a national Political Action Committee (PAC) whose "mission is to increase Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander representation in government to better reflect the diversity of the country and to enact policies that benefit the AANHPI community," according to its website. After President Biden dropped out of the race, the PAC also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President and focused their efforts on supporting her campaign.
Even though the update on the Democratic ticket happened after the event, Wayno, Beanie Sigel, Mobilize Justice founder Marvin Bing and AAPI Victory Fund's Lihn Nguyễn's mission remains the same. They launched a powerful movement that motivates citizens to vote and provides tools to understand who and what they're voting for. As the election draws closer, AAPI Victory Fund and Mobilize Justice plan to inform more potential voters in Michigan and beyond.
"The hope is that we can actually pilot and test the theory of change in Detroit," Nguyễn says. "We're gaining a lot of traction on this. But the plan is that we take this to other cities."
"Learning who you are voting for ... more than just the presidency — the down-ballot votes — is very important," Beans adds. "We can use our voice to vote people in or vote people out."
In addition to rallying people to vote, Beanie Sigel has also been in the studio. Over the past few months, the Philadelphia native has performed alongside his State Property brethren Freeway, Peedi Crakk and the Young Gunz at several shows and festivals. Since then, he's been working with the Philly-based crew on some new music, and he plans to drop it "soon."
"Yeah you're going to get some music soon," Mack says. "You're gonna get a couple of things soon."
As for Wayno, he's been busy working with QC's biggest stars from Lil Baby to Baby Money, Gloss Up, Way 2 Hard and others. The multifaceted journalist and show host also touches on today's trending topics in Hip-Hop and more on his new series "I'll Do It Myself." With all he's achieved in the music and media space, the 41-year-old is ready to expand into the world of politics.
"One thing about my career is that I'm always pivoting, right?" Wayno says. "It's like you see me doing one thing and the next thing, one thing and the next thing, and I do it genuinely. This is one of the things that I'm thinking about pushing myself more into."
For more information about AAPI Victory Fund and Mobilize Justice's initiatives, hit up their websites and get involved now.