I have a longtime friend—a programmer who's a big Bernie Sanders fan—whose eyes just completely glaze over every time I talk to him about local, Seattle-level politics. He'll get worked up about national news, but he can't bring himself to engage locally even though there's so much important, often cool stuff happening right here in his own city. (He wants me to fill out his August 2 primary ballot for him.)

Maybe these videos from Matt "Spekulation" Watson—a barista, hip hop producer, and rapper—can change that. Spek came in for some well-deserved praise from our hip hop writer Larry Mizell Jr. last week:

I want to shout out the guy Spekulation for his most recent productions, his best and most effective work to date. My favorite stuff of Spek's was his Beast Mode tribute "Bout That Action," but his recent viral videos breaking down important local stories—just little things like the Seattle Police Department's secret contract negotiations with Mayor Ed Murray... have quickly taken the top spot.

Have you seen these yet? Spekulation's last video, about how North Seattle NIMBYs are making it impossible for poorer residents to afford to live in this city, has racked over 30,000 views. This time, it's arguing in favor of the mayor's policies, not slamming them, and it's attracted the ire of the NIMBY crowd in its comment section. Check it out:

I talked to Spekulation to learn more about his process:

You're a hip hop producer and rapper, you recently dropped an album, but lately, you've been making short, eye-catching web videos about local politics: police, and now, housing. What prompted this?

Generally speaking, it just feels like we're a country and community in crisis right now. And as much as I love music, it doesn't feel like that's really what I need to be doing to address some of the stuff I see around me. I mean, the album touches on all the same kinds of topics, but I feel like I need to do something more direct, to help mobilize the people I have access to, and to boost the signals from activists in my community.

More specifically, it was prompted because I stumbled on former Seattle police union president Ron Smith's personal Facebook page through some miracle of the Internet and saw that his profile picture was the Punisher logo. So I wanted to come up with some way to convey the absurdity of that. Next thing I knew I was editing video, and haven't stopped for a couple weeks.

Well, it seems like you're tapping into something, because the clips are getting tens of thousands of views on Facebook. What have you made of the response so far?

Thanks, yeah. I'm glad they've been so effective and have been able to spread so far, especially because they're aimed at a super local audience. It's really hard to say though, because I don't really trust Facebook's numbers.

I will say, having done the viral thing a few times in the past with more pithy stuff, it's heartening to see such wonky policy videos get thousands of views. It gives me some hope that I'd lost over the last few years.

What goes into making these things? It's incredible how many corners of pop culture you're pulling from. I'm reading about a police union contract and then a clip from my favorite show pops up to drive the point home.

Yeah, that part is just how my brain works. I guess I was conditioned from a pretty early age to respond to stuff with pop culture quotes, so it's just a knee-jerk reaction.

As for the process, I'm kinda still developing the best way to go about it. The last few videos have just come from reading news stories (often ones you write) and when I get mad (inspired) enough, I start working. I'm trying to be good about actually researching and citing sources and stuff, which is a muscle I haven't stretched in a long time. My English teachers would be happy, I think.

Civics teachers too, I'm sure.

My civics teacher wouldn't be happy with me regardless, I don't think. You just brought back a memory of using a VCR to splice together Star Wars clips for civics class in 8th grade. We were supposed to make a mock campaign commercial. I used clips of Emperor Palpatine to villainize Republicans. (I'm just now realizing how long I've been doing this for).

Mr. Miller said it wasn't factual enough to get credit. But he showed it to all the other classes. True story.

That's awesome. I want to see that clip.

We'd have to find a VCR or a time machine.

You were part of the #CallOutMurray campaign, which focused on what you believe to be Mayor Ed Murray's lackluster (craven?) approach to police reform. But this latest video agrees with and advances one of his major policy planks (which makes it hard to pin you as an reflexive ideologue or a crank): the idea that we need more housing density, including big new apartment buildings, throughout Seattle. How would you describe your politics? And what's the goal here? To get people to call in and express opposition or support for these particular policy changes?

It's tough to say. I think Mayor Murray has done a lot to make this city less livable for a whole lot of folks. I think a lot of those folks are from already-marginalized communities, and that makes Murray's coldness towards them all the more frustrating. But he has made some okay decisions, and I'm definitely excited to point them out when I see them. Dropping the neighborhoods councils (I think that's what they're called?) was a great move.

I want two things to happen. I want people to feel moved to call, to be engaged directly, even if it's just for a minute. And then I want them to remember doing that, and to read the news, and see if the mayor was actually receptive to them. And if he wasn't, then I want those people to vote for someone else.

That was maybe three things. I just want people to be invested. And I think calling, or emailing, or really connecting in any way is a good way to get invested, and to stay invested. Because no one wants to waste their time. And we don't forget it when people waste our time.

Time wasted is the worst.

Yeah. And honestly, that's kind of what politicians bank on - that we don't even want to invest our time in the first place.

Well, Game of Thrones and all sorts of distractions beckon.

Exactly. (But clearly I watch a lot of TV so yeah.)

Which gets back to why your videos are popular. There's a lot of great activism in this city, but so much of it is so predictably, boringly earnest or, on the other hand, intense and rageful. There's a whole 'nother range of emotions and aspects to our culture that activists gotta touch on if they want to connect with everyday people. That's me on my soapbox, anyway.

Yeah. But I'm a straight, white male in my 30's. I can afford to be a little less earnest and rageful.

Word. Can you give us a quick preview of what's next?

Right now I'm working on another video about the rejected police contract [see above], but I'm gonna wait for a little more news to come out about that so I've got more facts (that's your job, I think). I'm so new to this, so I'm just not even sure where it goes.