Milwaukee Strong

The song and music video project was the culmination of over two months of work. In April, musicians in the City of Louisville released a “Lift Up Louisville” song. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called it a “love song” to the city, and challenged the mayors of peer cities to create a similar song and video. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett saw this as an opportunity to invite musicians in Milwaukee to engage in the project, and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and Imagine MKE were invited to partner to create a song and video the city could rally around.

“Milwaukee artists have brought creativity, imagination, and passion to both ‘Milwaukee Strong’ and ‘The Hero In You.’ The results of their work are remarkable,” said Mayor Barrett. “In suggesting a Milwaukee song, I hoped for a piece that would inspire and unify our community; my expectations have been greatly exceeded.”

Milwaukee Strong
Music and Lyrics by Shonn Hinton and Ray Nitti
© 2020

We are the proud we are the true
We work together we’re heroes through and through
Like the foundation of our homes
We stand together
Milwaukee Strong

Through the fire and through the rain
our tomorrow will be a better day.
Cause we are proud of what we know,
we are the good land
Milwaukee Strong.

From the ashes and the dust
we will rise we’ll all stand up
With hope in our eyes we’ll grow on
We will rebuild brick by brick
stone by stone

Through the test of fire
through the test of rain
our tomorrow will be a better day.
Cause we are proud of what we know,
we are the good land
Milwaukee Strong.

Milwaukee strong, like black coffee
Milwaukee Black and Brown, so please change policy
Milwaukee let’s work on ending poverty
Milwaukee growing, let’s make sure that we grow it properly
Milwaukee home, so let our love show
Milwaukee special, invest in the homegrown
Talent, we all searching for balance,
united the Good Land’s approaching all our challenges

Hand in hand
You and me
Working together
Like a family
Together we stand
Through it all
Hand in hand

Standing tall
Everyday
In every way
Spreading love
The Milwaukee way
Loud and proud
Through and through
This is who we are
And this what we do

Through the test of fire
through the test of rain
our tomorrow will be a better day.
Cause we are proud of what we know,
we are the good land
Milwaukee Strong.

Over 30 artists – “The Milwaukee All-Stars” – were brought together to contribute to the song, resulting in a rich piece that highlights the diverse talent of Milwaukee’s musical community. Contributions include a string quartet of Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians, a trio of student musicians that participated in 88Nine’s Grace Weber’s Music Lab, a vocal quartet of harmonies from band Ruth B8r Ginsburg members, favorite Milwaukee duos SistaStrings and REYNA, and much more.

Complete artists featured are: Dena Aronson, Alex Ayers, B~Free, Alyssa Caroline, Roxi Copland, Olen Franklin, Ava Gessner, Trinity Grace, Paul Hauser, Shonn Hinton, Kyndal J., Terry Jeanes Jr., Jonathan Jones, Alex Julien, Timothy Klabunde, Greg Koch, Evan Lane, Alesia Miller, Ousia Moon, Ray Nitti, Danielle Renee, Elle Renee, REYNA, Johanna Rose, SistaStrings, Jesse Weinberg, Warren Wiegratz, Dee Yancey, and Adrien Zitoun.

The music video features the 620-foot long, 5-foot high “The Hero In You” mural by Milwaukee artist Ken Brown, who was commissioned by Milwaukee Downtown, BID #21, and the Downtown Placemaking Task Force in April. The mural features 10 downtown essential workers and is intended to honor Milwaukee’s COVID-19 pandemic response.