“I don't care what you call me, because it doesn't matter anymore. Words do not matter anymore. And that's your fault. That's not my fault. If five years ago I was called 'racist,' I might think, ‘Damn, did I say something wrong?’ ... But now it's like, ‘I don't care.’”
Hi-Rez is a musical artist and the mind behind "Trump the Don." He recently went viral with his release of “First Day Out,” a rap song using AI that simulated a near-perfect digital imitation of President Donald Trump.
“I did not think it was going to take off the way it did,” says Hi-Rez. “Now I kind of have a second career, almost like the Michael Jackson impersonator in Times Square. I'm Trump the Don.”
We discuss the role that music and entertainment can play in breaking socio-political barriers and bridging the cultural divide, and we dive into Hi-Rez’s evolution as a musician and his views on the Second Amendment, medical mandates, and Elon Musk’s recent feud on X with the Anti-Defamation League.
“In hip-hop, there are so many oxymorons,” says Hi-Rez. “We're promoting, in hip-hop, gang violence and glorification of illegal gun use and things like this. But as soon as someone like me talks about the Second Amendment, that's like a racist Republican thing.”