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16 Dec 2011: Time Ranks ‘Fracking’ Rap
Among Most Creative Videos of 2011

An online video featuring an unlikely fusion of hip-hop lyrics and the natural gas extraction technology known as “fracking” was ranked number 2 on Time magazine’s list of most creative videos in 2011. Produced by a team of students from New York University’s Studio 20 journalism program, the video, “My Water’s on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song),” features a rap-style description of the hydraulic fracturing drilling process — and its possible environmental consequences — over animated graphics and a funky backbeat. Lisa Rucker, a Los Angeles-based editor who helped produce the video, said the video has the potential to introduce the controversial fracking debate to a wide audience. The video has attracted more than 200,000 viewers since it was posted on YouTube in the spring. “Hopefully, if they watch the video, they’ll go read an article about it or find out more information about what it is and what the effects are,” she told the Los Angeles Times. The 2-minute-33-second rap song taps into information from ProPublica’s three-years of investigative reporting on the drilling process.

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