Victoria Johnson
Hailing from Buffalo, NY, Chuckie Campbell arrives with a remix of his song “Synesthesia” with none other than hip-hop legend Talib Kweli. But while the message is well-intentioned, it’s a bit misguided.
The two rappers get together to talk about the importance of love in dismantling race issues in the United States. But as the song goes on, it’s clear they are unaware of race as a system that can’t simply be cured through good feelings.
Although Campbell, who’s a white rapper, does have two interesting lines. At one point he says that we lives in “a world of white rappers and black presidents.” (Well, not anymore on that latter part.) it’s a decent line in addition to another tidbit: “to hate another person ist o love yourself even less.” But when he gets into colorblindness and race issues in the United States, he loses me.
Talib Kweli joins in around 01:50 to talk about the drug epidemic and how oppressive forces use “race to divide us” and “erase the love inside us.” But systemic oppression is much more than that.
Check out the Talib Kweli–featured song below or on Spotify.
