THE STORY BEHIND Get Up

THE WRITING

In early June 2020, as the world was collectively feeling angry, helpless and overwhelmed with all the atrocities happening before our very eyes, Wyatt Jackson reached out to Gen Rubin about an idea for a song called "Get Up." Within a day, the song was written by Wyatt, Gen and Cheryl Yie, a mixture of rap, with singing and spoken word, set to a backdrop of a cinematic, hip-hop-inspired track built on all human sounds — voices, beating on a chest, etc. It is a lament, a march, and a call to action. Although the project was born out of pain and grief, it was a labor of love, using music not only to express our pain, but to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Together in this song and video, we have created a community of over 80 people—artists and citizens of all ages and races and from all over the country—united in our plea for real change.

THE RECORDING

After the song was written, the challenge was recruiting our musician friends (and friends of friends!) to record themselves singing or playing as best as they could while working remotely. Luckily, some of the groundwork was already laid with the Rubin Family’s Give a Little Love video, as many singers and musicians from that collaboration were quickly on board for “Get Up.” 

The first chorus, meant to specifically show AAPI support, is recorded by AAPI singers Yoo Soo Kim, Adam Jacobs, Arielle Jacobs, Cyanne, April Villanueva and Sophie, along with Gen and Cheryl. The AAPI community has not always been present and vocal for Black civil rights movements in the past, and we hope to change that. “It’s not enough to just stand by.” The struggle of Black Americans is important to all of us. We all need to stand up, represent and be active in our allyship.

The second verse and chorus needed the powerful and unique voices of singers Anita Faye, Jena Fair, Byron Mitchell and Marcia Bibbins to express the frustrations all of us share living in a racist and unjust system. “We the people can’t take this any longer.” Drummer and percussionist Ehssan Karimi also adds more drive to the music at this point playing his cajon.

For the big call to action at the end, even more singers were recruited to lend their voices — Courtney Mickens, Ryan Link, Dale Roth, Kiana Gregorich, Asha Youmans, Kaia Rubin, Makena Rubin and Michael Bluestein. In addition, violinist Andrew Joslyn and cellists Nathan Chan and Christine Lee added fire and drive to the dramatic finish. 

After the recording was completed, Gen recruited mixing and mastering legends, Jimmy Douglass (who even lends some of his vocals) and Chris Gheringer to blend all the elements perfectly and make it sound exactly the way it’s supposed to.

THE VIDEO

We asked friends and family to film themselves yelling “GET UP!!” These are our Protesters that open the video so powerfully. Singers were tasked with filming themselves, and Wyatt was able to recruit Lee Francois to film his video footage at the Francis D. Martini Memorial Shell Amphitheater in Boston, MA. The video would, of course, feature Wyatt and the singers and protesters, but it also needed dancers and images of the protests that were happening. Dancers Khalid Hill, Anton Lamon, Cyana Paolantonio, Sade Aset, Bethanie Willis, Dominic Masotto, Kendrick Love, and Anthony “Fyrefli” Gasoway generously gave us footage, elevating the video with their artistry, expressing the depths of our pain and our need for hope in the way only dance can. Striking images and footage of protests were given to us from Michael Doucett, Reid Fuhr, Masao Yamada, Elina Jahromi and Jen Hershfang and are used along with our own footage from a youth-led march in Seattle.

The final video, edited by Gen, navigates the different artists, mediums, emotions and messages of the song, while weaving together a feeling of a community that is at once angry and frustrated but finally hopeful as it culminates in the rousing march at the end. Wyatt, the soul of the song, is the wise narrator, the voice of reason, our conscience, and the powerful thread tying the whole group and video together. 

We are eternally grateful for all the artists who poured their hearts into this collaboration. We felt the love coming from every one of them. From Boston, Seattle, NY, NJ, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Atlanta, San Francisco, and even Vancouver, each recording, each video was a spark helping us to light this fire. Let’s keep it burning and continue to DEMAND CHANGE.