Clipping, an experimental hip-hop group from LA, has just released a new song that is equal parts enjoyable, woke and educational.
The song titled “The Deep” highlights the tragedy of the millions of mothers thrown overboard during the Middle Passage and the devastating effects still felt today by the ancestors of those who survived the mass murder.
Noisy, sick or otherwise disruptive “passengers” on these slave ships were pushed overboard, especially women in labor or those with morning sickness. The issue was so pervasive that sharks began to follow the ships looking for the stranded slaves, knowing there was an abundance of free food.
This event is one of largest and least known about holocausts the world has ever seen, with estimates between 100 to 200 million deaths of nameless Africans tossed away by the hands of human greed. Yet there is still not a plaque, memorial or park bench for these innocent mothers and children lost to the sea.
Clipping has not only made a much-needed statement but has provided a voice for the voiceless and a story for those who were never provided the oxygen needed to tell their own.
This song’s extended metaphor follows aquatic babies (birthed by the drowning mothers) as they start “from the bottom” of the ocean and struggle to make their way up.
“We built our home on the sea floor, unaware of the two-legged surface dwellers, until their world came to destroy ours.”
The babies, momentarily at peace and safe in the depths of the ocean, are quickly violated and ruined once more by greedy oppressors searching for “black gold.” The oil rigs they drill into the ocean floor create explosions, murdering fish and humans. The trusting and loving forgotten children could not fathom these greed-driven acts caused by “two legs,” because “we came from two legs.”
When the lost aquatic children finally meet the vile beings committing these grievous acts, they come face to face with the children of the Middle Passage survivors. The children see the dark faces in the crowd, not crying out for their lost family, but praying and screaming for fear of these children who are not so different than they are. Their family has forgotten them and replaced them with the greed that only “two-legs” posses, and in the end the forgotten children take away our cities just as we demolished theirs.
This song not only educates but moves listeners with its incredible power. It is further proof that music is capable of displaying profound narratives and can be more than just cool beats.
