Video: MC Lars - "Twenty-Three" (in conjunction with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Peninsula native MC Lars released his new video “Twenty-Three” today in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

You can find out more info on AFSP and MC Lars here.

After the jump is the press release regarding the partnership and more about the video.

AFSP Partners with MC Lars to Raise Awareness about Depression and Suicide

The Bay Area’s self-proclaimed “post-punk laptop rapper” MC Lars has teamed up with AFSP in an effort to spread awareness about his new single and video, “Twenty-three.” The track appears on his latest album and is a sobering, emotional tribute to Lars’ college roommate Patrick Wood, who took his own life at the age of 23 while attending Stanford University.

Last October, Lars was supporting Grammy-nominated pop-punkers Bowling for Soup in the UK. BFS frontman and record label head Jaret Reddick and Lars were sitting backstage, discussing plans for the rapper's next video.

"We decided it had to be 'Twenty-three,'” Lars said. “We both felt strongly that we could reach a lot people.”

"We contacted AFSP, an organization that had helped Patrick's mother as she dealt with the loss of her son. We told them we wanted to make a video for 'Twenty-three' and asked if they wanted to join forces to spread our message of suicide prevention and survival after suicide. They loved the song and graciously pledged their support,” Lars said.

“Sadly, every 15 minutes someone in the U.S. takes their own life. More needs to be done to raise awareness about this national health problem,” AFSP Executive Director Robert Gebbia said. “That is why we are pleased to partner with MC Lars to launch the premiere of 'Twenty-three.' We feel the song and video will help raise awareness about depression, but we also believe that many who have lost someone they love to suicide will relate to the song’s powerful messages.”

The video for “Twenty-three” was directed by Heath Balderston, who donated his time to create the clip. Click here to watch the exclusive premiere of MC Lars' “Twenty-three.”

On June 22, the digital Twenty-three EP, which features the song, the video and various unreleased material from MC Lars, will be available for purchase on iTunes, at Amazon and elsewhere.