Approximately one year ago, the United States was still trying to come to grips with grand jury decisions not to prosecute the police officers who had a hand in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner while unknowingly set to experience emotional deja vu with the upcoming deaths of Freddie Gray, Samuel Dubose, Chrisitan Taylor—among several others.
As the daily news stories played out, many felt it was an unnerving television drama where unarmed black men were constantly being targeted simply for the color of the skin. Hip Hop music is renown for its mirroring of societal ills and Jarren Benton has documented his thoughts on the matter with the unveiling of his new explosive single and video, “Anarchy,” premiered by HipHopDX.
Produced by longtime collaborator Kato, featuring the mighty EarthGang and directed by Jesse Ray Diamond, the hook employs the world to “tear this bitch up” in the midst of countless racial profiling reports, however it’s the visual that will undoubtedly stir the pot and raise eyebrows at the same time. It involves the kidnapping and killing of police officers.
In such an age where social media can either fan or fuel the flames, Benton exclusively explained his decision to release such a controversial video.
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“At the end of the day it’s just art,” Benton tells HipHopDX. “It’s just good old Hollywood smoke & mirrors when Jarren Benton decides to kill cops in his videos. But it’s good old fashion reality when cops decide to kill black people on video.”
Diamond backed up Benton’s opinion on artistic expression, saying,
“My vision for Jarren’s “Anarchy” music video was to add a cinematic element that in my opinion a lot of music videos lack today,” he also tells DX. “We wanted to give a very raw insight to what would be a hypothetical “stress relief” through the eyes of the victim going through police brutality or racial stereotyping. Which a majority of people have experienced in their life and can’t do anything about but be a victim.”
The release of “Anarchy” comes in the midst of another wave of controversy in Benton’s career. Just yesterday (March 8), his former Funk Volume labelmate Hopsin revealed things would never be the same underneath the imprint’s umbrella when he released the video for “ILL Mind of Hopsin 8,” a visual attack on the label’s co-founder, Damien Ritter. The CEO struck back in a video chat of his own where he not only explained his side of the story but also extended out well-wishes to Benton, who for now, is weighing his options on his personal future.
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“Anarchy” is currently available on iTunes now via Benton Enterprise. Watch the video down below.
