Watch YG’s Powerful New Protest Video For ‘FTP’
“The real story here is me and Black Lives Matter brought out 50,000 people today to peacefully protest and unite for change…That is history”.
YG dropped an official video for his politically-charged new song, ‘FTP’ (‘F__k The Police’), following weeks of protests. Much of the video was filmed during a 7 June rally in Los Angeles, which YG organized in conjunction with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and BLD PWR. According to messaging at the end of the video, the 100,000-person peaceful protest is “being touted as the largest anti-racism march in the city’s history”.
The powerful black and white video opens with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr, which reads, “A riot is the language of the unheard”. A variety of footage – both violent and peaceful – from recent protests follows.
Posting the video on Instagram, YG explained his point of view, “See you gotta understand that a lot of people out there they see me as a N___a. They don’t see the Black proud man. They see a kid from Bompton and they expect violence. They hear ‘FTP’ and they think I’m gonna come and burn my city. So we showed up and did it right. We proved them wrong.”
He continued, recalling the 7 June peaceful protest in Los Angeles, “The real story here is me and Black Lives Matter brought out 50,000 people today to peacefully protest and unite for change. I wanted to document that so when they hear this song and think we are reckless and violent they see a peaceful protest of all different people coming together for a common cause. That is history. That is breaking down these stereotypes on our people and our neighbourhoods.”
“All of us protesting are on the same side here,” he added. “Instead of questioning each other’s activism we should be directing that energy at the cops and the government and helping to create the change we want to see. Stay focused and stop that social media judgement without knowing facts and hurting a cause we all a part of.”
The late rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle also appears in the video, in the form of a poster behind YG while he marches. YG also paid tribute to his friend in his recent video for ‘Laugh Now Kry Later’, the title track to his forthcoming fifth studio album.
Listen to the best of YG on Apple Music and Spotify.
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