B.C. rapper gets shout-out from U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
David P. Ball | CBC News | Posted: March 26, 2022 6:00 PM | Last Updated: March 26, 2022
AOC posted to TikTok in response to confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson
A Vancouver hip hop artist is "excited and so honoured" after getting a big shout-out from U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week.
K!mmortal learned from a friend that the Democratic party politician had posted to social media, rapping along to the musician's song Sad Femme Club.
"At first I was like, 'What?!'" they said. "I was amazed that she resonated with it.
"I was definitely so excited and so honoured."
Ocasio-Cortez, a self-identified democratic socialist congresswoman, made a post to TikTok and Instagram Thursday, soundtracked by K!mmortal's 2017 song.
The post was in response to ongoing confirmation hearings of the Democrat administration's Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson — who, if confirmed, would become the first Black woman in the country's top court.
In the post, the Bronx politician described the song as: "My anthem this week for watching one of the most qualified SCOTUS nominees in U.S. history be treated with extra disrespect as a Black woman."
The nominee faced days of questioning from Republicans, who oppose her joining the Supreme Court, and focused on her anti-racism views, her thoughts on children's books by authors of colour, and her sentencing record as a judge in child exploitation cases.
"They're intentionally trying to break her emotionally to have something to disqualify her," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in her post.
K!mmortal said although they are not closely following U.S. judicial hearings, the politician and activist is someone they respect and admire for her advocacy.
"She's always pushing for the rights of marginalized people," they told CBC News in an interview. "The fact that it's resonating with her was mind-blowing; it's such an honour to see that."
Sad Femme Club was originally composed in support of Black, Indigenous and people of colour fighting against oppression, K!mmortal explained.
"I wrote it back in 2017 when I was actually supporting a queer BIPOC friend of mine … taking on a racist incident," K!mmortal said.
"I wrote Sad Femme Club in witness particularly to Black and Indigenous femmes of colour who deal with micro-aggressions — and what I deal with as a queer Filipinx non-binary artist."