On Tyranny: Hip-Hop MC TINO Says of His New Trans-Rights Song: ‘[They] Just Want to Be Loved Too’
No Kings 3, which took place last week and drew an estimated 8 to 9 million participants – exceeding the turnouts of the first two protests – provided more wind in the sails of the pro-democracy movement that is barreling toward a critical juncture at the November midterm elections.
Red-hot MC TINO – who hails from Dayton, Ohio – didn’t make it to the protest. But since the early 2010s, the hip-hop high-achiever has kept his mind trained on educating and galvanizing his audience with socially conscious messages while ensuring his lips are trained on spitting transcendent rhymes.
Two years ago, TINO got a big bump in support thanks to a grant he received through a now-extinct public funding program for the arts called MCACD (Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District). That financial backing provides clear evidence that government support of the arts is not an abstract and wasteful use of taxpayer money, contrary to what Musk, Trump and the GOP publicly fabricate.
TINO said he hopes the grant will propel him to be active and performing another 30 to 40 years,” he imparted.
While activism is a through line in TINO’s career, the affable and down-to-earth musician released one of his boldest and bravest songs yet, “People Too,” on Tuesday. While he actually wrote the track two years ago, TINO told The Bad Penny on Saturday that the time to put it out now felt apropos, in part due to the No Kings 3 rally that transpired less than two weeks ago.
“The photo used as cover art for ‘People Too’ was taken by photographer Jake Schneider, who attended the most recent March here in Dayton,” TINO said. “I saw his photo and reached out to him about using it because the message on the sign in the foreground matched the theme of the music so well.”
TINO further added in a description accompanying the song on his Bandcamp page, where it is priced at a pay-what-you-can rate.
“This is me taking the opportunity to stand up and support women, immigrants, and trans people through my art,” he wrote. “All sales from this song will be donated to organizations supporting those causes.”
TINO further noted one of the most commonly spoken and heard refrains that have reverberated among the resistance who continue to warn the public about the horrors at democracy’s doorstep in the U.S.: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”
The Bad Penny fortuitously found TINO on Bandcamp a few days ago, and the artist graciously leapt at the chance to participate in our On Tyranny series, in which more than 100 musicians have now participated. We found TINO’s reflections on fascism and the current state of affairs in the country and the world to be so enlightening that we spoke with him longer than any other artist featured in our series thus far.
Don’t be intimidated: We instinctually infused our conversation with some levity when appropriate, and it’s likely most who listen to the conversation will find it to be of the common-sense variety, even if warnings about authoritarianism’s attack on artists are laced throughout.
Check out the first part of our conversation here:
And part two here:
For more on TINO, go to his website, X account, Facebook page, Instagram feed and Soundcloud hub.
Check out more installments of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series here.
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