#VERZUZTHESYSTEM

A Campaign

by Christopher Teel, A.B.D (also known as Bored.of.Educatiion)

Culture is our superpower. It moves markets, reshapes language, and sets the rhythm for the world to follow. Every new wave starts with us. From sound to styles to stories, we turn struggle into art and imagination into industry. But somewhere along the way, we started treating creativity like it only belongs in the arts. The truth is, there are design opportunities everywhere. Systems, laws, communities, schools. If we can rethink sound and fashion, we can rethink how power moves too. Why not use design thinking to remix what needs to be changed? The world can be your canvas, and changing it can be artistic.

That’s why I’m proposing we extend Verzuz to politics. It's the perfect style and system. Two people on a stage. No commercials. No podiums. Just the people in the crowd and the ideas in the air. Instead of dropping music, they drop policies. Eight rounds. Back and forth. Each idea goes up against its rival in real time. Housing versus housing, safety versus safety, vision versus vision. The crowd reacts, debates, and decides what resonates. Something from our culture can instantly becomes the heartbeat of civic engagement. The city becomes the stage. The culture becomes the commentator.

This isn’t a debate. We don't really rock with cutting people off and the performative uncivilized behavior. It's actually a disqualifier if you think about it. (My bad. I got bothered and decided that i'd keep that part in.)  It’s a format designed to weed out corruption. Because what has been corrupting our communities doesn’t exist everywhere else. If we don’t create and protect our own respected platforms, we’ll never truly know who’s talking to us, and who’s talking through us.

Just imagine, Verzuz - The System Version. Think. of how it would have gone with Mamdani Verzuz Cuomo in New York City. We wouldn’t get all the noise. It’d be like this……

Round One: Housing

Mamdani came out swinging with Freeze the Rent. Straight talk that touched real lives. People felt seen. Cuomo’s Make New York Affordable Again had a broader message, but it felt like a remix of an old song. When the votes came in, the crowd had already made up their minds. Mamdani took the first round easy.

Round Two: Transportation

Free the Bus. That was Mamdani’s move. A call for fare-free public transit that hit every corner of the city. It sounded like freedom. Cuomo answered with Safe Streets, focused on rules, regulation, and safety. It made sense, but it did not move anybody. The people rolled with motion, not management.

Round Three: Work and Wages

Mamdani dropped Thirty by Thirty. It was bold, a thirty dollar minimum wage by 2030. Ambitious, but it hit home. Cuomo responded with Jobs and Growth, a steady record built on business and partnership. Safe again, but not inspiring. By the third round, the crowd knew who they were voting with.

Round Four: Childcare and Families

Here, Mamdani slowed it down with Every Child Covered. A promise for universal childcare, and a real investment in the next generation. Cuomo’s Tax Credit Relief had its logic, but Mamdani’s idea had love. Parents in the crowd nodded along like they heard their own story.

Round Five: Safety and Policing

This one was closer. Mamdani’s Community First talked about prevention, health, and trust. Cuomo’s Safe City brought experience and order to the table. Both had energy. But the crowd was changing, the city was changing, and people leaned toward a new sound of safety.

Round Six: Climate and Infrastructure

Mamdani lifted it again with Green Future. Climate jobs, school retrofits, sustainability, all framed as justice. Cuomo hit back with Resilient City, seasoned and strong. He knew the city’s history, but Mamdani was writing its next chapter.

Round Seven: Taxes and Wealth

Mamdani dropped Tax the Top. It was about fairness, plain and simple. Cuomo replied with Keep the City Competitive, pushing balance and business. It was the clash of philosophy right in front of the crowd, redistribution versus retention. They listened close, argued, but the vote leaned toward change again.

Round Eight: Legacy

Mamdani closed with For the People. A finale that felt like it belonged to everyone in the room. Cuomo wrapped with Experience Matters, and it did, but the moment had already shifted. By the time the results came in, the story had been told. The city wanted something new, and Mamdani left the stage to cheers that sounded like a movement.

When the lights came up, Mamdani left the building the clear winner. The crowd cheered like they were part of something historic. And even as headlines called the race close, everyone in that room knew who had changed the frequency.

That is the feeling we want to build from. That energy. (Well, actually we might want to start with that original verzuz energy to be ......let's just say "culturally responsible", you feel me. We might not need all that culture and opposing views in the same atmosphere. Ok, I said it clearer. If you're still lost, you're search party will find you eventually.                                                                                       But yeah, that is what #VerzuzTheSystem is about. This campaign is not just an idea. It is a design in motion. We are already working behind the scenes to bring this to life.                 

And if it does not happen the first way we see it happening, then it happens another way. There is a plan B, and that will be outlined in the proposal. Either way, we are going to make this real. Because the vision has value, and the community deserves a space where truth can perform on its own stage.

We are building something clean, creative, and controlled by the people. Something that puts pressure in the right places and rewards transparency. A platform that feels familiar, that blends the energy of culture with the integrity of civic life. Those who know the history of competition in the culture already know how powerful that format can be when it is done right.

This is not about politicians choosing to talk to us. This is about us designing a space that they will want to be part of. I mean come on, Swizz and Timberland, and Smack and Beasley should show that we dominate that space. That's such a fire collab. Plainly stated, #VerzuzTheSystem has the power to reframe politics, reshape civic energy, and remind our communities that we still own the sound of change. 

So stay tuned. We are working. The idea is alive. And the next version of politics might already be in rehearsal.

(If youre interested in helping with this, please reach out.)