A California emcee who goes by the name Red Cloud recently rapped for more than 18 hours straight and broke the Guinness World Record for longest freestyle.
According to HipHopDX, Red Cloud broke the previous record of 17 hours by rapping for a total time of 18 hours, one minute and 14 seconds. The rapper, hailing from Hawthorne, California, decided to use this opportunity to bring awareness to missing and murdered women in Canada.
"We put on an event every quarter at the Airliner in L.A. called Indigenous Angels," Red Cloud says during an interview with the hip-hop news outlet. "Every time we do this show, we pick a different charity to donate our proceeds to. We choose to focus on Indigenous issues. This time [my girlfriend] Crystle Lightning said, 'Lets do it for our missing sisters in Canada' ... and I thought this is perfect ... If I can honor these women and bring awareness to the epidemic in Canada using my attempt to break the world record, then it would be perfect."
In the 17th hour of his freestyle, Red Cloud named each of the 1,200 indigenous women who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the mid-1980s.
"I've always wanted to break the record, but do it for something bigger than myself," he told Mic. "This issue is so deep in Indian Country. If I can freestyle about [these women] and get media involved, it could get the whole thing amplified."
Red Cloud also said part of his inspiration came from his freestyle hero Supernatural, who broke the Guinness World Record at nine hours in 2006. He went on to break the record himself Nov. 29. The freestyle was live streamed via First Nations Television.
Following his victory, Red Cloud revealed to HipHopDX that he is interested in trying to break the record again by freestyle rapping for 24 hours straight. He also said he is working on a new LightningCloud album with his girlfriend and hopes to tour as much as possible.
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