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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sean Morrison

Keedron Bryant, 12, signs deal with Warner Records after protest song goes viral

Keedron Bryant, the 12-year-old who turned heads on social media with his passionate performance about being a young black man in America. (Picture: AP)

A 12-year-old boy whose song about the fears of being a young and black in America went viral has been signed by a major US record label.

Keedron Bryant's song I Just Wanna Live was posted online one day after the death of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis.

Keedron has now signed a deal with Warner Records and I Just Wanna Live will officially be released on Friday.

Warner Records timed the release to coincide with Juneteenth, which marks the end of centuries of US slavery.

The song contains the lyrics: "I'm a young black man, doing all that I can to stand.

"Oh, but when I look around, and I see what's being done to my kind.

"Every day I'm being hunted as prey. My people don't want no trouble."

Keedron's video has been viewed more than three million times on Instagram and has attracted more than one million likes.

Former president Barack Obama was joined by basketball star LeBron James and Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o in praising the youngster.

Warner Records said it plans to donate the profits from I Just Wanna Live to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

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