Hear Taipei’s 59-year-old mayor rap about doing things right
It's his first official release.
Taipei's mayor has a new side job: Rapping.
For 2 minutes and 46 seconds, Ko Wen-je, Taipei's trauma surgeon-turned-mayor chants "do the right thing, do things right" and "guai guai de" (loosely translated as weird) in a new video dropped on YouTube this week, Radii reported.
His partner, 25-year-old Taiwanese rapper Chunyan, is responsible for more complex verses of the rap, including a line that says "don't steal chickens or pet the dog," referring to laziness and petty theft.
It's quite clearly trying to bring across Ko's message for the city to "do right things" and to "do things right," which are qualities he emphasised in a press release sent out by the Taipei City Government two years ago as he reflected on his time as mayor.
Besides working to bring Ko's message across to his audience, the video includes snippets of his life as Taipei's mayor, showing him in a buttoned up white shirt tucked into high-waist pants and a pen clipped to his shirt pocket walking along a dimly lit corridor of the municipal office and performing site inspections, as well as landmarks such as the Taipei City Government office.
It's Ko's first official release and marks the start of his journey to become a rapper. The man said so himself in a note about his work on YouTube. The note began, "Now, I want to try to become a rapper."
The music video seems to be well received by viewers, who have left comments singing praises about the song and the man himself. Some also commented that they've been brainwashed. It has garnered more than 1.28 million views at the time of writing.
Ko also left words of encouragement for viewers, telling them to be willing to attempt anything they want to even if it's not something they're familiar with: "Opportunities are reserved for those who are willing to try… Everyone must bravely pursue their own lives."
