In Chicago, hip-hop isn’t just a genre, it’s a language ingrained in the social fabric of the inner-city.

So we united the most influential voices of the streets, Chicago’s hip-hop artists, to create “Put The Guns Down," an interactive music video that, like the cycle of gun violence, never ends.

At musicvsgunviolence.com, major and grassroots Chicago artists like Grammy-winner Common, King Louie and Lil Herb kicked off the track before inviting people to add their own unique verse against gun violence.

“Put The Guns Down” was launched during Chicago Ideas Week by music producer Anthony “The Twilite Tone” Khan and Oscar and Grammy-winner Common. The following day, tactical out-of-home and ambient posters appeared throughout the city urging people to visit musicvsgunviolence.com and add their own verse.

Within days, the track grew from 4 minutes to over 2 hours long, gaining coverage from major music publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard & Spin as well as national news outlets such as FOX, ABC and CNBC.

With a media budget of $0, goals were set to 8.5 – 13 million earned impressions and 45-50 earned placements. Within weeks, our numbers reached over 530 million earned impressions and 127 total earned placements. Average time spent on musicvsgunviolence.com was 4 minutes and 18 seconds.