Icon Appears In Music Video Supporting Barack Obama

Buju Banton, one of Reggae/Dancehall’s most celebrated artists was recently invited to be a part of Rock legend, Dave Stewart’s new video, “American Prayer.” The song, which was written by Stewart and U2 frontman Bono in support of Democratic Presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, also features the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Macy Gray, Beyonce, Cyndi Lauper, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, Joan Baez among others.

Scott Seine, a representative from Stewart’s camp spoke of Stewart’s decision to involve Banton, saying, “We reached out to artists/actors that we knew were Obama supporters, but regarding Buju, Dave is absolutely in love with Jamaica and Dancehall culture music, so it made sense to reach out to one of its biggest stars.”

Accoring to Stewart – who has written for Shakira, Gwen Stefani, and others – the inspiration behind the “American Prayer” clip came from the lyrics: “Bono crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that ‘ America ‘ as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality – yet something had gotten lost along the way, something had gone awry. I found it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.”

The “American Prayer” music video will launch virally on August 14th and later air on the ABC’s, The View, Thursday, September 18th, during Stewart’s guest appearance on the popular morning talkshow.