Last week, I premiered the video to my single “Tribulations.” I consider this to be a milestone within my life because this is something that I have wanted for a long time and for the first video I think it came out pretty well. While I did not edit it, I lead the creative direction by directing it and choosing the scenes where we shot the video. I am not sure about it yet, but I might release an extended version to the video due to the fact that opening scene was not a part of the song which made the introduction very long.

The video opens up with me rapping in my bathroom mirror. I used this scene because the hook of the song are thoughts that I think of everyday. Being an individual who is not only cognizant of their environment, but of the world, I realize that there is a ton of people who are oppressed everyday or find themselves in very sticky situations.

The next scene switches to me speaking at the park with two younger children. This scene symbolizes what I want to do with my music; to educate and empower the youth. It is of my personal opinion if you educate children when they are young, by the time they are teenagers (or even before) there is already a level of wisdom and understanding that has been instilled (I can speak to this firsthand). We close the park scene by reuniting together to convey the message that the people you love are the ones who can help you through your time of tribulation.

The second verse is rapped by my best friend, Nasir Cooper. When I gave him the song (the first verse was created already) he decided to write a letter to God to allow our listeners to garner a personal perspective to what his tribulations and provide his advice. When we were brainstorming ideas on where to shoot his verse, I immediately though it would be amazing if we could shoot it in a cathedral to garner the ascetic and to make the message resonate more. Even though the idea fell through, we were still able to shoot an amazing scene.

At the end of my first verse, my third verse and in various parts throughout Nasir’s verse, there were some shots of us within the city. My idea was to shoot the video within the city but where specifically, I was not sure of. Instead, when we arrived we went with the flow seeing places that looked cool to film and we capitalized on that idea.

Another fun fact I want to add is that I originally wrote this song when I was in the 10th grade (the hook and the first verse). Because of school and other obligations, I did not go into the studio to record it until I was a junior and that is when everything began to come together. Nasir added his verse and I had my parts recorded but I still felt that there was something missing. Luckily, I two of my friends (who are signers) happened to in the studio that day and I gave them the melody to sing during the bridge. We put it together and the rest is history.

Even though I was tempted to release the song for a very long time, I knew this song was very powerful and for me to release it, I would have to justify its release. After planning and planning, I am proud of the result and the message that I was able to invoke within my listeners. I feel/understand that many people are going through tough times and its up to us to over all the obstacles that lie in our way. Please check out the video below and the performance that we did before I graduated high school: