‘Nothing ever really changes in American society,” says musically expansive artist, IMANI COPPOLA. “It only gets stupider and we’re becoming more accustomed to accepting that as the new normal.”
It’s this sentiment that inspired Coppola to evoke the influential neo-expressionist and graffiti artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, in her new video for “SAMO”, out today. The video hints at the presence of Basquiat himself, and features Coppola’s own artistic work while using graffiti art to comment on the tribulations of struggling artists. The graffiti displayed describes “benefits” to the artist lifestyle including “Depression,” “Unstable Income,” and culminates in the cosmic declaration, “It doesn’t ever end. It has very few rewards. And we have no idea what we’re doing it for.”
“‘SAMO’ is essentially an imagined friendship with [celebrated graffiti artist Jean-Michel] Basquiat throughout the decades,” explains Coppola. “As the world was changing, I imagined how he and his art would’ve been affected had he thrived in a different time. I also managed to use his tag name ‘SAMO’, which is a short version of “Same ol’ bullsh**”
Coppola, a singer, violinist, songwriter, and producer who scored a Top 40 pop hit with her major label debut “Legend of a Cowgirl”, intends to wake everyone up with more music in the coming months – both conscientiously and musically. “I want them to feel shaken, moved, rattled, I want them to feel their own importance in life, I want them to hear their own voice more clearly in their hearts. I want them to be more in touch with their truth, I want them to be kinder to others, I want them to be kinder to themselves. I want them to know they are not alone. And if they think they’re crazy, they’re in a good place. It’s the ones who don’t think they’re crazy you gotta worry about.”
Imani Coppola’s “SAMO” is available on all DSP’s Here
https://smarturl.it/ImaniCoppola
It was the Summer of ’79
I met a boy in the scene on the Lower East Side
We scribbled words on the walls
Spraypainted the town
Hip Hop, Punk Rock. bottoms upside down
The Bronx was burning and the city was turning in its grave
Beats were breaking, bombed D trains scraping through the tunnel to the fright of day
It was the SAMO (same old)
It was the Autumn 2006
CBGBs closed the curtain final act Patti Smith
Towers collapsed, the compact disc was obsolete
Boredom is the birthplace of creativity
He stayed in his bedroom with his MacBook Pro
9/11’s Great Recession dwarfed the planet Pluto
Stop and Frisk raised the risk for mainly Blacks and Latinos
It was the SAMO (same old)
It was the Summer 2019
He was a content creator who blew up on IG
Hash tag fame, internet celebrity
Made a million dollars mining crypto currency
And the world was trolling for American to become great again
Guns were polling, Kanye West was running for President
It was the SAMO (same old)
|
