Rapper protests piracy bill with ‘SOPA Cabana’

British rapper Dan Bull has released a new video further showcasing the viral opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, setting his own criticisms to the measure to music.

In a photo montage that features 86 people (and one cat), Bull rails against SOPA, reiterating fears that the legislation could limit freedom of speech and particularly hurt the rap community, which often uses samples of other tracks and beats to supplement their own songs. Bull pulled the song together in a few hours, after crowd-sourcing his Twitter followers for lyrics and themes to add to the tune. Then he took to Facebook to ask for people to take pictures of themselves holding up signs with lyrics from the song to add to the visual element of the piece. Bull said that he finds SOPA “abhorrent on three fronts,” the report said. He thinks it threatens the future of the Internet, stifles innovative forms of music such as mashups and songs that use sampled music, and that allowing any government to police traffic on the Internet sets a dangerous precedent. As a British rapper, he’s worried about the worldwide impact of the measure.