Drew Shirback writes his rap songs on request, but one of his newest, 'Red tide rap up,' was written about a theme close to home.

Shirback, 30 of Englewood, Florida, lives about a mile from the Gulf shore. He is all to familiar with the recent algae crisis affecting beaches from Naples all the way north to Tampa.

After his friends challenged him to write a rap, he obliged. When his first video gained some traction, another friend asked him to try and bring awareness about the algae issues by producing another rap, this one about red tide.

"I realized it was an issue for quite some time but never realized where I fit in to this particular issue," Shirback said. "After all, I'm a father of two, restaurant manager, husband and have zero time to think, let alone act."

He and his family can smell the "stench of the rotting wildlife ... " from their home. The crisis prevented Shirback and his wife, Stephanie, from taking maternity pictures on the beach.

"It's Florida, let's try the beach, the smell isn't that bad today," he said.

"We were wrong, and we ended up having them shot in a hilly part of Sarasota in an environment that hardly coincides with the Florida lifestyle."

So when presented with the challenge of producing a rap video about red tide, Shirback delivered. His opening lines are direct:

"Florida shores have got a problem, here I call for help. We got some problems with our water, there's some damage being dealt. Karenia brevis algae is blooming up in the water, and it's toxic to our ecosystem, shores and tourists (in) Florida."

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Shirback grew up in Southwest Florida working in the hospitality industry and has witnessed the troubles area restaurants have suffered. He's had friends lose out on work because restaurants have closed up while customers shy away from areas near the beaches.

"I went to lunch this past Monday at arguably the best waterfront restaurant within 20 miles and we were the only table," he said.

The rap, however, is not all doom and gloom. Shirback calls out prominent figures like Elon Musk to help find solutions.

He believes accountability is the first step to finding a creative solution to the problem.

"I guess what I was getting at was that we need a brilliant mind removed from any bias opinions or political affiliation to take a deep, comprehensive look at the situation," he said.

Shirback will continue to write songs and post them to YouTube and Facebook. An upcoming video will be about human trafficking.

"I'd like to cover things that the overwhelming majority can say '(Yeah), this is a problem'."

He has written his own raps since he was 19, not really putting himself “out there” but “portray(ing) an image that wasn’t really (him).” Now, Shirback feels comfortable releasing songs under his name.

“These songs are just me,” he said.

His videos can be found at youtube.com/user/TheSupa1001 and facebook.com/drewshirback. Shirback also takes requests. Send him an email at ashirback@gmail.com with your ideas.

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