Long standing BlackPlastic.co.uk favourites Benin City are back, with a song that carries and important message in deeply challenging times.
Usually I would write something about the artist, the song, and what it makes me feel. In this instance, I think it is much better to let the music, and the artist, speak for itself. The words that follow in this post are those of Benin City.
It was already a painful year, with the Tories, with Covid, with Windrush, with Boris.
This year alone, our aunts have been spat on, our uncles knelt on, our elders deported, our brothers left to the mercy of COVID. George Floyd is the latest casualty in this eternal war against black people’s right to exist, to work, to be happy, to love as we love.
Trust, we’re exhausted, we’re watching the news and despairing, we’re tired, and we’re angry.
We’ve been emboldened by the protests, in the US and globally, even in the face of rampant police aggression. We’re a band, what we do best is music, so we’re putting this song out, Hostiles is our attempt to put our emotions to art in these shiitake-mushroom times.
All proceeds of the track will go to BLM UK, so we’d encourage you to buy it from our Bandcamp, though it’ll be available to stream from everywhere else too. Also, we’ve made a collective donation as well, and other donations to These Walls Must Fall (https://detention.org.uk/) BFTA collective (https://cash.app/$btfacollective) and Black Minds Matter (https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/).
If you can, donate too, or read/share this resource on other charities to donate to and articles compiled by It’s Nice That (https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/resources-supporting-black-lives-matter-movement-creative-industry-010620).
Take care of each other and yourselves. We are so much more to this.
Love is the law Unclench Your Jaw Wash Your Paws
Tom, Shanaz, Josh
#blacklivesmatter #blacktranslivesmatter