Recently, rapper Kano premiered a music video for “Teardrops”, from his 2019 album Hoodies All Summer. It was shown as part of the online GRM Daily Rated Awards, a ceremony that champions black music in the UK. In the video, as Kano raps, he gets into his car and drives a short distance before being stopped by the police. He continues rapping until the police smash his window and pull him from the car. We are left to infer his fate. There’s a very specific power of truth and storytelling a music video can give us that we can’t get anywhere else. One of my favourites is “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in which lead singer Karen O manages with her face alone to convey the sadness she feels about her partner leaving. And if you want an incredible retelling of a story as old as time, do yourself a favour and watch the video for “Fresh” by Kool & the Gang, an all-black Cinderella story. If I could bottle the power I get from three to five minutes of a music video, I think I’d actually be too powerful a writer. Well, I suppose I could try penning short stories, but without a song as the backdrop, there’s a layer of magic missing that only music can bring.
