Ever the wordsmith and serene storyteller, Derek Minor is impacting the Hip Hip political scene this year with his “Decisions” video.
The animated mini-movie — directed by Johnnie Hxllywxxd — follows the path of a young and embarrassed black youth who thinks retorting back with gun violence is the answer. As we’ve seen time and time again in these United States, there are consequences. Or this case, we’ll say “decisions.”
Minor exclusively revealed the inspiration to HipHopDX to coincide with the premiere saying he drew it from “multiple stories that I’ve either personally been close to or I’ve seen in the media.”
He continued: “Often times in our media-driven culture we boil complex situations down to a headline, We want clear-cut lines that are easily digestible for our perspective platforms. When I wrote ‘Decisions’ I wanted to show how messy life really is. I wanted to capture how one decision can change everything. Unfortunately, for a song like ‘Decisions, there is plenty of content to draw inspiration from.”
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The powerful messages contained in the short film aside, the record also possesses a massive display of storytelling and lyrical outlines, something that has since become an afterthought in newer age rap music. Which makes the song that much more deep for the artist who created it.
“This song is very personal to me because I have had family and friends suffer devastating loses because of decisions they’ve made. I’ve also seen first hand how other’s people’s decisions or biases can cause extreme hurt. I’ve personally sat in the back of police cars, handcuffed and had guns pointed at me simply because I looked ‘suspicious.’
“What I’d love people to walk away with in this song is one decision can change everything. If those kids wouldn’t have beat up the main character, there would be no reason for his anger. If the main character listened to his brother, there would be no encounter with the police. If the police would have been more levelheaded and sought to understand, everyone would be alive. My hope is this visual will create healthy conversation and inspire us all to chose life-giving decisions.”
This new song will serve as the first single from Minor’s upcoming album. His last project, Reflection was released near the end of 2016.
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Check out the HipHopDX-premiered “Decisions” video up above and follow Derek Minor @thederekminor on Instagram.
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