EL.i.BE reports that his new track “Balance“, featuring O-Lay, was inspired by the tragic shooting of Philando Castile. We first caught up with the Liberian-born, Minneapolis-based rapper this past May with the release of his Liberation LP and “Come On” video, which featured the vocalists Graydon Francis and Bryan Doe. That track chronicled EL.i.BE’s emigration to the US and was an honest assessment of the difficulties faced growing up African-American in the States. “Balance” finds the artist, and track partner O-Lay, continuing to tell it straight as they tackle the issue of police violence in America. Lyrically on point and pulling no punches, the pair wonder why, “It’s the land of the free/But it still ain’t mine,” before leveling the chilling indictment, “Boy, ain’t much changed from how it used to be/It’s a badge and a noose.”
The video for the track was directed by Benji Cooper, and it features the two rappers as well as dancers Peace Madimutsa and Nteranya Arnold Sanginga. Using movement and staging to unpack the track’s theme of police violence and injustice, the dancer’s gestures dramatize the rapper’s sentiments in powerful but non-verbal ways. Madimutsa, who was born and raised in Zimbabwe, explains:
“Even though our arms are up, in what I would call submission, there is always someone back-to-back with me, watching, fighting, dancing, and we keep rotating, we keep in this back-to-back fighting cycle.”
Likewise, Sanginga, a Congolese student at Macalester College, used the video performance to reflect on how he “physically, emotionally and psychologically navigates through the issue of race in the US,” while being conscious “not to caricature trauma.” The results are moving, and the group’s message a necessary reminder that the struggles for social justice are on-going. Be engaged!
