Chicago Hip-Hop artist YP gives us a haunting and powerful message in the video for his latest track, “I Matter”, featuring Assata Jones. This is certainly one of the best records to represent the Black Lives Matter movement to date.
In the song, Jones recounts the tragic losses of Laquan McDonald, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile, respectively. In each moving verse, he manages to channel their spirits and tell the stories of their lives and deaths in their own voices. Assata Jones drives home the point as she desperately pours her emotions on the hook as she sings: “I might not make it/I might not make it cause my skin is subjected to hate/It’s so heartbreaking/All my brothers killin’ brothers and these cops shootin’ like it’s a game.”
The video, directed by Jay Mavas only amplifies the messages as viewers and presented to chilling images of crime scene tape and sirens, and the disturbing, but respectfully edited video footage of each incident. It excellently drives the point home that not only Chicago, but the country is in a state of emergency.