It's not often that a song comes along that gives me chills. However, such was the case as I watched the video for "Beautiful Boy," a touching tribute to the victims of police brutality. The song is truly a family affair, performed by rapper Supa Good D Smoke, his mother Jackie Gouche and brother Davion Farris. The trio tackles the topic through the eyes of the victims, detailing their pain at the dreams lost and the mothers who mourn their loss. The powerful song strikes at the core, with Gouche pouring the burden that a mother of black sons carries with her daily into her vocals as Supa Good D Smoke raps, "So one day I would've had a wife, we would've had a baby / Now isn't that a life."
The video itself is equally as moving as we see actors portraying Michael Brown and his mother as he prepares for the graduation day that came just months before his life was snuffed out at the hands of police, while the second verse is devoted to Trayvon Martin as he goes through the seemingly minute actions that led up to his untimely demise at the hands of George Zimmerman. Both scenarios further reiterate the somber reminder that a high school graduation and a simple trip to the corner store should not be the penultimate events of these prematurely shortened lives.
While several songs have been released recently concerning the troubling times we live in, "Beautiful Boy" succeeds in capturing a different perspective than what has been shown thus far. Listening to the song will not only benefit your ears, however; "Beautiful Boy" also benefits a worthy cause, with proceeds from iTunes sales going to the Trayvon Martin Foundation.
