With one record already under his belt, Tucson rapper and artist Badio is ramping up to release his sophomore album in fall 2016. But, you'll want to check out his new video for the song "2nd Coming" before then.
Shot in the sand dunes of Yuma by Thierry Nzeukou through their collective Les Gars, which primarily focuses on fashion photography, the video serves as a cinematic bridge to Africa. Badio himself is originally from Liberia, but has lived in Tucson since 2009 after moving from Virginia.
"It's about who I am, but the video was strategic," he says. "I wanted to mimic the migration of the first groups of blacks in the Sahara desert. We migrated as a means of necessity and spread around the Africa."
When asked what the message behind the video was, Badio sent over one of his art projects, an image with the words written over:
In essence of all that is black Second Coming depicts the "NOW" mental disparities of Africans as a result of cultural misappropriation, appropriation, displacement and institutionalized self-hate.
"I made the record as an attempt in bridging the gap between blacks in America and Africans in Africa," Badio adds. "I wanted to explain more so how our self hatred was created. So, for example, our people's displacement from their origins caused a somewhat, let's say, disconnect from their true history, so if you don't know your history you don't know who you are or what you're capable of."
"That should be a persons main source of motivation," he says. "Blacks don't know their history so they've succumbed to what society has told them or taught them to be."
Though it's going to be a few more months until WhatsbadioII is released, something tells me that, with powerful lyrics like,
My momma she nine to fivin' - till she 95, still broke as a record no time to pay me mind, distracted by Bills, damn - Cosby keep raping us how can I chill.this album is going to be something to look out for.
Until then, check this out: