PJ Morton will take us on an aural voyage through Africa on his next album Cape Town To Cairo. He’s already traveled to a few musical destinations with singles “Please Be Good” and “Simunye (We Are One),” and he keeps it moving across the continent with his latest drop “Smoke And Mirrors.” The up-tempo bop marries the sounds of his native New Orleans with Ghanaian Highlife on a powerful track about the pitfalls of preconceived notions.
On this leg of his journey, PJ heads to Ghana in a sonic explosion of brass horns, electric guitar, percussion, handclaps and his signature Rhodes piano. With a funky soul feel, he makes it clear on the track that the jig is up. “You lied to me / You didn’t want me to see / You knew that if I knew / I might believe in me / Mmm, ah, you tried to / Break me all the way down / Mmm, mmm / You wouldn’t believe / When I got back to myself what I found / Mmm, check this out,” he defiantly sings.
Morton delivers the bold lyrics with his whole chest. “It was just smoke and mirrors / They try to act like they don't hear us / It was just smoke and mirrors / I'm crystal clear, just don't get near us,” he warns his detractors to fall back on the chorus.
The single release dropped alongside a music video produced and directed by Nathan Corrona for Dustbrand Films. Filmed at a mechanic’s tire and brake shop, we see a man with grease-covered hands working on a truck before the camera captures another man in a suit draping a Ghanaian flag over his whip. As the camera goes back in forth between the two subjects, it becomes clear that it’s the same man.
Interspersed throughout are scenes of PJ, clad in a jacket with the colors of the Ghanaian flag, and his band having a serious jam session in the garage’s inspection pit as the camera captures different vantage points. We love the way that music and culture collide in this visual all while hammering home the track’s cautionary tale about ill-informed biases and projection.
If this song’s theme seems familiar, that’s because it is – just think back to “Sticking To My Guns” from PJ’s 2018 album Gumbo. On “Smoke And Mirrors,” Morton draws parallels between his journey through Africa and his travails in the music industry.
“I was asked so many questions before I went to Africa,” he said of the days leading up to his life-altering trip to the Motherland. “I’ve been told so many things about Africa. Seeing for myself broke many of those narratives that I was told. I realized that perceptions usually depend on who is telling the story. This song is also inspired by my journey through the music industry,” he continued via press release.
Check out PJ Morton’s latest single and video below. Make sure to pre-save Cape Town to Cairo before it drops on Friday, June 14th. And, if you know like we know, get tickets now to see the Live Show Killa on his extensive Cape Town To Cairo Tour.
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