The beauty that lies within the power of music, is the multiple things it allows humans to do. Music can be used as inspiration, motivation, or simply just to feel. Using music as a tool to make people utilize all aspects of their brain and make them really think is something that takes an artist of great creativity and skill to be able to perform. As if the world needed any more clarification that Wale is one of the most talented artists in the music industry, he recently premiered the visuals for his song “Sue Me” from his 2019 album Wow… That’s Crazy.
For those who may not have heard the album yet, “Sue Me” is one of the deeper cuts from the project, and importantly enough, the opening track for the project as well. This song is about Wale being proud to be a firm supporter of all things black. That would be supporting all black businesses, black entrepreneurs, black entertainers, so on and so forth. After the album dropped, he even went on Twitter and retweeted many accounts that were promoting black excellence and black accomplishments. “Sue me, I’m rootin’ for everybody thats black” the chorus says; showing that Wale is not afraid to stand up for his people whether the world is in agreeance or not.
With such a powerful message that the song entails, the visuals yield even more of an amazing message that was executed perfectly. In this 8 minute visual directed by Kerby Jean Raymond, the visual stars the talented actor Lucas Hedges as the lead role. The storyline behind the video is showing a world that many blacks can relate to, yet the roles are reversed. The blacks are in place of the caucasians and vice versa. Certain situations such as growing up with a father who is incarcerated, living a small apartment, and navigating in a bad neighborhood are some of the things that the leading roles witnessing. Many Easter eggs are scattered all throughout this visual, many of those which relate to the product placement names, billboards and advertisements around the city. The message that lies within provides a visual of what life would look like if the tables were turned, and blacks and Caucasians experienced different situations. Playing this back about four times, I found something new that I did not notice on the last watch, and it made it that much more enjoyable to me.
Not going to lie, on first watch, it seemed crazy to see some of the things that took place in this video. It almost felt like a false universe due to the fact that it is not something that you witness every day. That said, that is the main purpose of the visual. To get peoples minds working. Not only that, but to provide a visual to many people who may discriminate and look down upon those who may look different than others. This visual only shows a small fraction of what goes on in black lives, but it felt great to receive a visual like this that would be a great conversation starter. Of course, this is a topic that may hit home closer to some than others, but nonetheless, a conversation to be had regardless. It makes me happy to see that Wale was the one to portray this message, and I do think it may rub some people the wrong way, but it will work magic with some. Now is the time to give Wale his roses while he can still smell them, because this is not the first time nor the last that we will receive a powerful message as such.
Watch the visuals for Wale’s powerful single “Sue Me” below!