Boonie Mayfield - While Black (Video)
This artist I've been hearing for years and finally having a platform to talk about him in, especially with his latest record and its powerful message behind it, I'm truly honored to write about it here today.
Boonie Mayfield shared this track with visual and the story behind both tales on his Instagram, where the first one happens to him while being racially profiled by the police during a stop that left him alone and helpless. With questions like "do you have any drug or guns," that's being asked to him which he's never heard before, but with the corrupt system the way it is, these lines of questions aren't a surprise. The story gets jolting as he remembers more cops approaching the scene while he stands in full cooperation, not wanting to set one of the vile men in blue to test their oppression on him.
The story is compiled in this southern draw tone that sounds likes like an unreleased record from Stankonia. It has Boonie admitting the behavior of the situation is uncertain for him as he doesn't know if this will end with his life or if it will go peacefully. His vocals are heard throughout the g-funk background that paints you in a scenario that many people of color have found themselves in with, more importantly, black people being targeted the most. The track is haunting for those who haven't been in a situation like this, but the record doesn't stop there.
His second story of the track is in two parts, with the first going over a date in which he was criticized for his mannerism that his tone and demeanor were not those regularly describing a black man but a white guy. He shared that he's had this issue before and felt its unfairness to be viewed as someone of a different race. His second story talks about a time during his Facebook era that he's no longer part of on how he messaged someone privately about the remarks they leave about him that turned evil in nature where the person retaliated by telling him the success he's gotten isn't deservedly and then went into a polemic dispute of racist bigotry towards him with finishing it off by blocking him on the social media app where his reason behind the message was to be in a peaceful conversation.
Boonie discusses the fact that he was so taken back by this attack that he didn't know how to fathom the situation that just occurred. He discusses this in a soulful spoken melody that puts you at the forefront of the times he's felt at his lowest due to racism and constructs this for a listening experience to dig deep into it. The track had me tearing up a bit throughout because I couldn't understand from his point of view at all; being Latino, I've come across my fair share of racism, but this is different. He has to be cautious with everything he does like he has a target on his back and fearing if you live or die in any situation with a figure who's job is it to uphold the law.
I found a new appreciation for Boonie Mayfield. I hope many others sit and listen to these tales here because there are much more than personal situations; these are what a black man in America goes through. To understand this fear, we hope that you and others strive to make necessary changes in the world to get rid of these fears for good. I highly recommend you stream the single while viewing the visual and share them on all available social media avenues.