Jon Braman may not sound like the typical hip-hop artist, but his ethos continues the legacy of the genre’s best. Like Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, he embeds social activism into his lyrics. Unlike them, he plays a ukulele.

Braman found his instrument 15 years ago inside a Long Island garbage can. Since then, he has written songs about the world’s most current events, including Hurricane Sandy (The Weather) and Occupy Wall Street (The 99).

The hip-hop inspiration came after he started listening to Outkast. He said that the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo was his “gateway drug to hip-hop.” Pretty soon, he bought a cassette of Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 album “Ready to Die.” He listened to it every day for months.

“I actually ended up leaving it in my dashboard for so long it melted,” Braman said.

By the time he decided to turn music into a career, he used what he had and built his style from that.

“I didn’t have a band or anything,” he said. “I just had the ukulele. So, I tried to rap over it and started coming up with songs that way.”

He now hosts a monthly event known as The Melting Pot, where he and various other artists get together and perform.

“It’s this fun mix of working family environment,” he said. “We know each other really well and we kind of just hang out and make music.”

Braman also incorporates social activism into his music. His time at Occupy Wall Street in late 2011 has inspired his work.

“During that time you could go downtown and walk into another protest or conversation about what is going on in the world and how to change it,” he said.

And he finds time to organize environmental campaigns and look for ways to make old apartment buildings more energy efficient.

“Right now is an important time for climate change activism,” he said. “I definitely hope my music can contribute in some small way.”