T.I. Takes Aim at Police Brutality and Twitter Activism in Powerful Spoken Word Performance of "United We Stand"

During the 2015 Triumph Awards, Tip's spoken word performance of "United We Stand" will take aim at so-called Twitter activism.

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Image via Complex Original
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"United we stand, because we created a hashtag for Sandra Bland," T.I. (Tip) begins while supported by members of the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, a theatre group for young adults in Georgia.  Though his moving call-to-action poem "United We Stand" definitely takes aim at so-called Twitter activism, T.I.'s message is ultimately one of hope. "If you think solely making them a trending topic is going to solve them, then you are a part of the problem," T.I. says of solely tackling pressing societal issues from the comforts of one's timeline.

"I was surprised that within a couple of months after [Sandra Bland's] death and the other deaths, the social media activity had all but stopped," T.I. said in a statement to Rolling Stone. "Even I had to question myself as to what part am I really playing." Though the performance won't officially debut until the Triumph Awards air on TV One on Saturday, you can catch the powerful footage below:

T.I. recently released a new EP entitled Da' Nic, considered to be his energetic warm-up for his forthcoming full length Da Dime Trap, which may or may not feature some decidedly A+ guest stars:

 

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