Andre Vasquez (born May 21, 1979) is a

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politician,

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, and former

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. He is currently serving in the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

as alderperson for the 40th ward, which includes parts of Lincoln Square, West Ridge, and Edgewater. He won election to that office in

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, defeating incumbent Patrick O'Connor, and was re-elected in

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. Since 2023, he has served as co-chair of the Progressive Caucus.

Early life, education, and career

Vasquez was born in Chicago on May 21, 1979, and attended Lane Technical College Prep High School. He attended the

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, where he studied English/Language Arts Teacher Education, but did not graduate. He later earned an associate degree in business administration and management from Kaplan University in 2014. As of 2019, he held a position as a cell phone account manager at

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Hip-hop career

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Vasquez performed as a

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

artist under the stage name Prime, a reference to the fictional character Optimus Prime. He first became involved in

battle rap Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and Diss (music), disses originating in the African Americans, African-Amer ...

during his time at Lane Tech High School in the early 1990s, and later became a member of the

underground hip-hop Underground hip hop (also known as underground rap or simply underground) traditionally refers to hip hop music that is outside the general mainstream canon or counter-cultural in nature, usually with a heavy emphasis on emotion, lyricism, and/or ...

collective Molemen. He also toured with the hip-hop group

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and appeared on

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's ''

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'' and

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's ''Blaze Battle''. He ended his career as a rapper in 2010. Vasquez's career as a rapper later became the subject of controversy during his 2019 campaign for Chicago City Council, when his opponent criticized him for using misogynistic and homophobic lyrics. Vasquez apologized for the lyrics, saying that "As a person who felt inadequate in my own skin, I thought denigrating others would make me feel bigger and there is no excuse for that."

Early political career

Vasquez became involved in electoral politics during the 2016 presidential election as a supporter of Bernie Sanders. As of 2019, he was the chair of the north side chapter of Reclaim Chicago, a progressive political action committee. In May 2018, Vasquez officially kicked off his campaign for alderman of Chicago's 40th ward. He was one of five candidates who appeared on the ballot in the first-round election on February 26, 2019, where he placed second with about 20 of the vote. Since no candidate received more than half of the vote, he and 36-year incumbent Patrick J. O'Connor advanced to a run-off election held on April 2. Vasquez defeated O'Connor in that election, receiving 54% of the vote. On April 10, 2019, Vasquez joined six other newly elected members of the City Council in protesting against the approval of

tax increment financing Tax increment financing (TIF) is a public financing method that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects in many countries, including the United States. The original intent of a TIF program i ...

for the Lincoln Yards and

The 78 The 78 is a plot of land in Chicago from Roosevelt Road south to 16th Street and Clark Street west to the Chicago River that is not developed as of June 2025. The plot of land gained its name from a proposal in 2018, not built, that consisted ...

real estate developments.

Chicago City Council (2019–present)

Vasquez was sworn in as a member of Chicago City Council on May 20, 2019. He is a member of the Council's Progressive Caucus. In November 2019, Vasquez was one of eleven aldermen to vote against Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the mayor of Chicago#List of mayors, 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she ...

's first budget. He joined all five other members of the Socialist Caucus in signing a letter to Lightfoot which criticized her budget for "an over-reliance on property taxes" and "regressive funding models" that are "burdensome to our working-class citizens, while giving the wealthy and large corporations a pass." In November 2020, Vasquez voted in favor of the Mayor's 2021 budget proposal, which passed by a 29–21 vote. Vasquez said that his vote was based on achieving several concessions as amendments to the Mayor's original proposal and a commitment from colleagues to include progressive and structural revenue options in the 2022 budget proposal. Vasquez was censured by the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America who said in a statement that Vasquez had "sided with an austerity regime and the Democratic Party establishment over the interests of Chicago’s working class."

Other political involvement

Vasquez ran for 40th Ward Democratic Committeeperson in 2020, but lost to Maggie O'Keefe.

References