Youth Vs Apocalypse's New Music Video: Where’s the Money At?
The new music highlights the importance of redirecting funds from fossil fuels and police to resources that will serve communities
Youth Vs Apocalypse is a Bay Area based youth-led group fighting for climate justice and advocating for social justice. On April 22, 2020 we released our first single and music video “No One Is Disposable”. Afterwards, we began the Hip Hop & Climate Justice Initiative and released our EP, “This is The Time”, on New Years Eve in 2020. This initiative provides a space for youth to use their art to express their activism whether that be through poetry, rap, visual art, or dance.
Through YVA’s Hip Hop & Justice Initiative, we recently released our third and most recent single and music video, “Where’s The Money At?” featuring Rudy Kalma, Destiny Arts Center, and Warriors 4 Justice. This song is about divesting from and defunding systems that devalue life — such as policing and fossil fuels— and investing in and funding systems that value sustainability and equity. It’s targeting power holders like Senator Dianne Feinstein, Governor Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden, and local officials and corporations like CalSTRS and BlackRock, who are contributing to the destruction of our communities rather than investing our freedom and future well-being of our communities.
This song and music video is written, produced, and directed by Bay Area youth who have been impacted by fossil fuel infrastructure and the militarization of their communities. I live in Oakland where I see people get years of their life taken away because of environmental racism and police officers expressing violence against my community. We wanted to speak to these issues through "Where's The Money At?" to show that real people's lives are at stake.
The Hip Hop & Climate Justice Team led three workshops a week for youth to come and write the song and also held discussions about how youth are being affected by climate change. After recording the song, we organized a Movement Art Celebration to shoot the music video, created art for the music video, made movement swag, protested, and practiced creative resilience. We targeted power holders and corporations by shedding light on where their money is actually going. Millions of dollars are invested into police and the fossil fuel industry, two systems used to hurt frontline communities. As the climate crisis becomes a larger threat, the truth about what caused it is also growing harder to hide. The climate crisis is a direct result of capitalism, racism, and colonialism. Climate justice is about collective liberation and creating a world with foundations of sustainability and equity. It is about dismantling these systems that started and fueled the climate crisis to ensure it doesn’t get worse.
Youth are demanding that power holders and corporations redirect their resources and money into things that will help us reverse the climate crisis and rebuild a society where everyone can thrive. To get involved with Youth Vs Apocalypse you can visit their website and follow us on social media. Watch, share, and amplify the new music video “Where’s The Money At?” and help youth take radical action against the climate crisis!