Towards the end of last year, the experimental rap group Clipping. released their great new album There Existed An Addiction To Blood. At the same time, Daveed Diggs was still busy with his acting career as well, and this year he’s been starring in the Snowpiercer TV adaptation. But today Clipping. is back with a new song, one that is vital and very timely.
Today, Bandcamp is recognizing Juneteenth by donating a percentage of their sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. And there’s a bunch of new music arriving today, whether tied to Juneteenth or responding to the protests against police brutality that defined the last several weeks. One of those songs is Clipping.’s new track “Chapter 319.” The group took to Twitter to explain their inspiration behind the song, describing it as both a tribute to George Floyd and the result of them thinking about “music’s usefulness in political and social movements, as a physical, affective expression of collectivity.” The group is splitting its portion of all Bandcamp sales between the GoFundMe for George Floyd’s daughter (the Official Gianna Floyd Fund), People’s Breakfast Oakland, the Okra Project, and Afrorack.
The entirety of “Chapter 319″ is a fiery and righteous meditation not just on current events, but the long systemic cycles that have plagued this country. They reference Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and they actually sample Floyd rapping on an old DJ Screw tape. They promise these marches aren’t the end over periodic airstrike noise bursts. And the music drops out so you can hear certain important lyrics real clearly: “Donald Trump is a white supremacist/ Full stop/ If you vote for him again you’re a white supremacist/ Full stop.” “Chapter 319″ comes packaged with “Knees On The Ground,” a 2014 track Clipping. released in response to the Ferguson protests of that year, but that has never seen official release before.
And here’s what Clipping. had to say about the song on Twitter:
“Chapter 319″ is out now and you can get it at Clipping.’s Bandcamp.
