They Went Viral With A Campaign Rap — Now James Matthew And Ify White-Thorpe Have Big Plans For Harvard

By Lauren Rearick


Local elections have the power to captivate millions of people, even those who might not directly be eligible to cast their ballot. Take Harvard University's 2019 undergraduate student government election as a prime example: Thanks to a now-viral campaign video, more than three million people were invested in the fate of two creative candidates, and their collaborative friends.


As most viral things do these days, the virality started with a tweet. On Tuesday (November 12), Uche White-Thorpe shared a video that his sister, Ifeoma “Ify” White-Thorpe, and her student government running mate, James Matthew, created for their campaign to serve as Vice President and President of the Harvard Undergraduate Council, respectively. They had enlisted fellow Harvard University juniors, Jenny Baker, EJayy DeVaughn, Mario Haskett, Eric Tarlin, Kelechi Ukah, and BJ Watson to prepare build a campaign message that blew any button or poster out of the water. The video barely clocks in at minute along with 1/2, yet the companions managed to pack every second with epic dance moves, rhymes about the candidates’ abilities, along with a saxophone solo.


“My sister and her friend are running for pres and vp of Harvard’s student government and so they never had to go this hard,” Uche tweeted — and based on the video's current view count, he wasn’t exactly alone in his thinking. Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker reached out to the students directly, and celebrities like Dwyane Wade voiced their support.


Best of all, although, was the answer from Matthew and White-Thorpe's classmates: The duo, whose campaign included a dedicated Instagram and the slogan “Harvard Can’t Wait,” won the election on Thursday (November 14).


White-Thorpe considered the campaign video had the potential to reach the students of Harvard, nevertheless she never thought it would garner a response from the rest of the world. “I thought it was a good video, also it was something that our campus would love, especially since people could have the ability to empathize with their companions having a good time,” she told MTV News. She understands a thing or two about going viral — in 2017, she made national news right after she procured acceptance letters for all eight Ivy League schools. Nevertheless even she couldn’t anticipate the video’s reach: “I did not think the reach could be that far.”


Matthew was also surprised by the support of social media, nevertheless told MTV News that perhaps it speaks to a much larger change needed in political campaigning. “We were so taken aback by the different types of celebrities that were in the Twitter comments,” he mentioned. “What we did with this was make politics fun, and showed how young folks are getting engaged in a nuanced way.”


As participants in 21 Eye catching Crimson, a company of students focused on using performing arts to present the diversity of Harvard talent, the candidates and their companions wanted the video to showcase what they feel is the greatest feature of the student body: its inclusivity. The project began with a brainstorming session in Watson’s dorm room, and came with each other in fewer than two days. Watson, Baker, and Tarlin wrote the track while Haskett produced the clip; Tarlin also served as videographer and saxophone player, Baker sang, and Watson rapped.


“Mario and I had this song concept already,” Watson explained. “And because we had so several talented people, we had to come up with a way to have different genres of music all on one track. We called it a music roulette.”


“At our core, we’re all artists and we felt that was something that we certainly had to bring into our campaign,” White-Thorpe mentioned. “We wanted to highlight that campaigning and politics would be fun, plus it shouldn’t be draining. This is something that should benefit our entire student body and we wanted it to present the energy we would also bring to our administration.”


Although the categorize is admittedly baffled by the overwhelmingly positive reaction on social media, DeVaughn believes the video’s message goes deeper than a fire solo or a surprise sax. “What people visualize in the video isn't only a solidarity amongst students of color, however simultaneously how they can exist freely. We can rock all with each other, we can all do our own moves, and that’s what was really moving,” he said.


Yet Matthew and White-Thorpe didn’t desire to ask their classmates to vote for them on the merits of an anthem alone — no matter how good that song is.  The two have a clear vision for the future of their campus, and detailed an extensive platform on their campaign website. While in their time in office, the sociology major and government major wish give attention to building a campus where people of all identities feel welcome. Their platform features six focus areas — academic life; inclusion and belonging; student life; first-generation and low-income students; sexual assault prevention and response; and health, safety, and wellness — and White-Thorpe mentioned they did their studies to decide what issues needed to be addressed.


“We really went out of our way to go and speak with student groups, speak with administration, and really get to the heart of issues that people desire to be taken care of and bring more seats to the table,” she said.


To that end, their plans involve several changes to the Harvard campus, including the creation of a new building focused on fostering community. Their website specifics the duo’s plans to “convert a floor of the Smith Campus Center into a multicultural center to serve as a central space for students of color and other cultural identities, brilliant for heritage month celebrations and cross-cultural collaboration,” and convert single-person bathrooms on campus to gender-inclusive spaces.


While their work as president and vice-president is just getting began, don’t expect this video to be the last installment. “If we have some good news tonight, there will certainly be more content coming soon,” Matthew told MTV News before the win was announced.


And Dwyane, if you’re reading, you have an open invitation from Tarlin to collaborate: “I gotta get D. Wade in the second one,” he said.