Ever since the decision came out that Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, St. Louis, there has been a lot of national uproar.

Although there are hundreds of protests taking place daily, Joey Bada$$ is looking at artists and rappers to use their voices in the music industry to get a message across.

Sitting down with MTV UK, the Brooklyn rapper shared his thoughts on artists speaking out more on social issues. He told them:

“I think that it’s very important for artists to raise awareness in situations, especially worldwide situations,” the Brooklyn native told MTV UK while overseas in London. “Because I feel like, in today’s world, in today’s society, we don’t have as much civil rights leaders as we used to.”

“Back in the day, a civil rights leader would come on television and he’s well-known; everyone knows him, he’s like the president. Now, today, it’s like, we have very few — and the people of today who have that same stature are musicians. Now, it’s rappers who have that stature.”

Many might look at Joey with a raised eyebrow, being that he is an artist, but he has a response for that as well:

“Me, as an artist, I’m always gonna try to do my part,” he said. “The more and more I grow, the bigger voice I become — so, the more people I can actually speak for. So I’m gonna try to utilize that to do nothing but positive things.”

See the full interview on the next page to hear Joey’s powerful message.