Blackk Chronical the 26 year old Deptford based lyricist who has supported names like Dead Prez, brings his brand new track and video Supervillain in all its oppressive glory. Filmed by the rather renowned Global Faction, the track is a telling bit of social commentary regarding the issues affecting inner city London youngsters.
Far from some cheesy lines telling ‘youths’ about their bad ways and indeed how they should change their ways (a track will not change issues that run so deep) the track is autobiographical in some respects bringing Chronical’s understanding of the issues facing a youth who seem increasingly; disenfranchised, disgruntled and self-destructive.
It’s a track bloated with the sounds of drums and snares totally reminiscent of Wu Tang in all their pomp when they just did not give a fuck. Rather than downtown New York this is Deptford a place where Chronical states categorically it was a place ‘lacking in any legitimate inspiration’.
Visuals are dark and atmospheric turning Chronical into a snarling, Tolkien-esque beast from middle earth.
Supervillain great looking video-elaborate about the concept
I came up with the video’s concept and the direction was a collaboration of ideas, as GlobalFaction helped to bring my wild crazy ideas to life and Craig James Dolan (the video’s animator) was on-set and helped shape some of the scenes.
There seems a familiar inner city social commentary in the track
In the video we wanted to convey the internal conflict felt by youths in my area with good and bad “voices” you can say, fighting for control. This is demonstrated in the black room scenes, which represents my subconscious mind. The opening scene is a back and forth between good and bad ending with the bad overpowering the good but with a heavy heart and showing signs of remorse. The scenes outside the black room represent reality. I’m being dragged as though I’m a Supervillain and I’ve been captured and then “neutralised”. This scene is reminiscent of police shootings, dis-proportionate imprisonment of ethnic groups and the general oppressive feeling that is felt living within the state’s walls.
Break down a few of the verses where you really turn up the lyrical layers.
The first verse is autobiographical and the second verse, although still quite hype, is more reminiscent of my conscious hip-hop roots. The first verse’s opening line is:
I want to be a Supervillain, the endz made me crazy, 9-5 never paid me so I turned to crime
This is the vicious cycle which traps most youngsters in areas like mine. It’s hard to find jobs especially without a good education coupled with a criminal record! The chorus just came to me exactly how it is and was kind of trash talk but was also expressing how I felt at times growing up in the “endz”. I also speak about how I plan to dominate music, comparing my music to a sawn-off shotgun to the ear drum! The 2nd verse is subtlety conscious if you check it close…
Iconography, forces you can’t see, no one’s stopping me for making an impression, you can never catch me slipping, thought-forms transmute into weapons, get beheaded with the tension
Last part is graphic, but the word ‘Thought-Form’ is a deep one. If you’re curious, read the book, it was rewritten in 1901 by Annie Besant.
Where can people catch you next?
No where any time soon! It’s quite weird to some people but I always try to follow my instincts, and they are telling me to hold off Blackk Chronical performances until I release my album late 2017. The album is a collaboration with Hybrid Freqz, a producing duo and will come out after all my other releases.
And what are you working on at the moment?
I have a few really great projects coming up which should be very exciting- I’ve been having some exciting ideas about my live performances and can’t wait to put them into practice. I also have The Love Trap ep which I will be releasing in 2017 but hey generally just stay in touch on all my social media platforms for more information.