Wyclef Jean, Colorado candidate Mike Dunafon rap about pot

From the hip hop star who collaborated with Kenny Rogers on a remix of “The Gambler” and Shakira on “Hips Don’t Lie” comes an entry into Colorado political history.

Wednesday evening at Shotgun Willie’s strip club in Glendale, a video featuring Wyclef Jean and independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunafon debuted. The best part is the rap stylings of Dunafon against the politics around pot prohibition.

The song, “The Trap,” according to Dunafon’s campaign, is “a metaphor, amplifying the misguided fear-mongering of John Hickenlooper’s now infamous ‘Don’t be a Lab Rat’ ad campaign” against teen pot use in July.

As Jean, the former member of the Grammy-winning Fugees, backs him on vocals, Dunafon raps in deep bass from behind bars, “They got us in a trap. They want to keep us in a trap for critical thinking for critical times.”

Watch: Filmmaker fights the war on drugs via performance art and dance

The campaign summed up the point this way: “In ‘The Trap’ music video, leading Colorado activists and concerned citizens from all walks of life appear in the cage to graphically display the reality of the political parties’ refusal to address the key issues that Coloradans face today.

“Audiences of all ages will identify with the citizens locked in the major-party cage. Jean and Dunafon’s message is that if you’re sick of party politics, and you want to get the money out, an independent governor is the best choice for Colorado, because he is not taking money from vested interests, and is willing to talk about the most divisive issues: local control over fracking, the release of non-violent cannabis prisoners, and investing to create a world-class cannabis and hemp industry in Colorado.”

Dunafon, the husband of Shotgun Willie’s owner, Debbie Matthews, is a former Denver Broncos receiver who became mayor of Glendale after city fathers tried to enact regulations that could shut down the strip clubs in the small town.

I wrote a lengthy profile about him and his campaign in July.

A mystery: What was Colorado congressman Jared Polis doing with Willie Nelson?

Dunafon and Jean have collaborated on video before, chatting about their support for legal marijuana at a 4/20 rally earlier this year.

While the ad satirizes Hickenlooper’s pot stance, it was Hickenlooper who got a music video, of sorts, out first. In August, the governor tried to play guitar and sing along with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder on the hit “Counting Stars.”

In the musical regard, Dunafon trounces Hickenlooper. Even Tedder concluded in the video, “You are very good at liking music and listening to it. You are not very good at playing it or anything to do with it.”