Rene Pérez, better known as “Residente” from the alternative urban outfit Calle 13, has never been shy about his political opinions, or about incorporating them into his band’s music. But on Wednesday, he stepped onto uncharted territory in releasing "Multi-Viral," a collaboration with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who remains in hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, as well as Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Palestinian artist Kamilya Jubran. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit play to listen to the new song.
"It seemed like a good idea to know what people feel about what's happening around the world now, this global connection you can feel and see," Pérez told the Miami Herald from New York on Tuesday. "We've started to use Twitter as a different kind of tool, not just to put up photos of our concerts or gossip." The Calle 13 frontman, whose group got its start as an alternative reggaeton outfit in Puerto Rico and has branched out into other genres as its profile grew, has 8 million followers on the social media site. In August, he held a live online brainstorming session through Twitter together with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, of which "Multi-Viral" is the product.
Pérez added that he was inspired by grassroots activist groups like Spain's 15-M and Mexico's #Soy132. "In every country people are getting active socially and announcing it on the Internet or social networks. That inspired me to write the song with people." Both 15-M and #Soy132 earn a shout-out in the song, as Pérez raps in Spanish, "The State fears us/Because at the same time we're 132 and 15-M." He continues, "If the press doesn't speak up, we give the details/ Painting the walls with aerosol in the street/ I lift my banner and make it known/ With no more than a single person who reads it/ It begins to change the world."
In a video chat between Assange and Pérez on Wednesday, he said that the meaning of the Arabic words sung by Kamilya Jubran could be roughly translated like this: "The rulers are not gonna rule anymore," "We must fight for freedom" and "The fire in their eyes." "She picked words that went with our meaning but rhymed in her language as well as expressed the anger that she feels," he said of her lyrics. Assange delivers a number of spoken word piece: "We live in the world that your propaganda made/ But where you think you are strong you are weak/Your lies tell us the truth we will use against you/Your secrecy shows us where we will strike/Your weapons reveal your fear for all to see/From Cairo to Quito a new world is forming/The power of people armed with the truth."
LISTEN TO THE SONG THEN SEE THE MEANING OF THE LYRICS IN ENGLISH BELOW:
(Translated by Ernesto Sánchez).
Everything begins with a spark
When we radiate flames from our eyes
They want to stop the fire that spreads out
But there are fires that can't be extinguished with water
And the police line gets closer
The muscles tense
The heart frequency increases
Testosterone levels go up
And that moment begins
The moment where people come face to face
When we become friends with courage
When screaming becomes our only language
I am commanded by reason, you are commanded by a colonel
If our fight is made of carton
Yours is made of paper
And you won't stop us
Because a clear message
Transforms any liutenant
A shark without teeth
State fears us
Because we are 132 and 15M
If the media doesn't dare
We do
We paint the walls
Graffiti on the streets
I raise my protest and I speak out loud
With just one person to read it
The world will start to change!
CHORUS:
Elbow with elbow
Step by step
The wave gets bigger
The foam gets ticker
As more people join
(...)
The one who controls
The one who dictates
Wants to get you sick to sell you drugs
And we take those pills
They make us dumb
Any question we might have
They found a way to skip
They give us lies
They feed us with processed meat
People still misinformed
A piece of news not well told
Is an assault with a weapon!
We infiltrate
We duplicate
Like the cells
We multiply
To the one who doesn't want broth
It's given two cups
We are the baking soda that makes the mass expand
Our ideas are free and they are awake
Because we think with the doors wide open
What is not seen
We are seeing
We are born without knowing how to talk
But we will die talking out loud!
CHORUS:
Elbow with elbow
Step by step
The wave gets bigger
The foam gets ticker
As more people join
(...)
Julián Assange:
We live in the world that your propaganda made
But where you think you are strong you are weak
Your lies tell us the truth we will use against you
Your secrecy shows us where we will strike
Your weapons reveal your fear for all to see
From Cairo to Quito a new world is forming
The power of people armed with the truth
CHORUS:
Elbow with elbow
Step by step
The wave gets bigger
The foam gets ticker
As more people join
(...)
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