Skip to content
Entertainment

SEPTA strike inspires viral Facebook song

    by Sofiya Ballin, STAFF WRITER
    Published 

SEPTA's on strike but it doesn't mean we can't live it up. Or "Lyft" it up according to West Philly's Damian "Dame Dollur" Hewitt, 27.

Hewitt posted "When SEPTA Goes on Strike" on his Facebook Monday afternoon (before the transportation agency even formally called for a strike). The song skillfully remixes Ja Rule's "Living It Up." The post has been shared almost 5,000 times and viewed 86,000 times since it was originally posted.

WHEN SEPTA GOES ON STRIKE By : Dame Dollur

Posted by Damian Dame Dollur Hewitt on Monday, October 31, 2016

Hewitt raps:

And the trolley aint broken
You betta sell ya transpass and ya token
Cuz every station in the city aint open
They tryna get that fat raise and promotion

On Monday, when Hewitt heard SEPTA might strike later that day, he freestyled the lyrics and made the song on Garageband in just 15 minutes and then hopped in the shower to get ready for work. Hewitt even wanted a friend to sing the hook but didn't have enough time. "I sang it instead," Hewitt said. "And off-key which I think makes it work."

When he got out of the shower, the video had already gotten 20,000 views. "I knew it would get traffic but not that much," he said.

And not so fast.
Since then he says "My inbox has been blowing up."

The next day, he released the music video and it has about 35,000 additional page views. Hewitt, who works at FedEx and Aramark Tower, started creating six months after saving up for a equipment. Hewitt's focus is both comedy and music and he plans on releasing a mix tape in December. Look out for more videos from Hewitt later this week including a parody of O.T. Genasis' "CoCo," called "I'm in Love with the PoPo."

    SB
    Sofiya Ballin, STAFF WRITER