“The song made me think about the beauty of Blackness, the power of Blackness.”
Brut followed the making of Common's video for “When We Move,” featuring Black Thought and Seun Kuti.
Brut followed the making of Common's video for “When We Move,” featuring Black Thought and Seun Kuti.
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MusicTranscript
00:00You can be joyful in the release, like, and dance around and move and, like, think about
00:11sunshine and think about great days and think about things that make you happy.
00:18Just seeing black women and men express themselves in such a free and fun way is what we talk
00:26about when we talk about joy and black joy.
00:29That's what this is, and that's what we were just expressing.
00:32And I don't even dance like that, I'm just trying different things out because I'm like,
00:35hey, it's just fun, it's just an energy.
00:47Oh, this is inspiring, just to see the movements, it's when we move.
01:00Peace, this is Common, and I'm at the Hollywood Bowl.
01:04About to perform with the LA Philharmonic, and I'm actually doing a song off the new album.
01:10We are in San Jose, actually at the San Jose Jazz Festival.
01:15We're about to perform later today, and I'm excited because we're doing a whole new show.
01:20Man, it's like, I got that giddy feeling, that good feeling.
01:23I love getting to go on stage.
01:25Y'all gotta come with me.
01:26Check it out, check it out.
01:29They warming up.
01:30They warming up right now.
01:40So check it, we are on the set, I'm walking on the set of When We Move, featuring Black Thought.
01:48So this is Ann Seyounkoudi.
01:51We are here in this beautiful space, and we're filming a video.
01:56And as you can see, the background actors, artists are coming back to dance and to rock.
02:02But it's just an incredible environment, beautiful space.
02:05It's what I didn't even dream of, what this video would look like, because that's what it is.
02:12Collaborating with great, talented people like Emmanuel.
02:15So we here, right?
02:17Tell them, brother, on the set.
02:19Yes, sir.
02:20Brother, we're capturing it all, from Black America to Nigeria to Africa to the world.
02:26It's for How We Move, y'all.
02:28So this is When We Move.
02:30We're going to have Common, our artist, move to the crowd.
02:34So he's coming this way, and the camera comes at the back of him.
02:39And he's pretty much pushing through the crowd.
02:42And as he's coming, he's tapping people up.
02:45Coming from Nigeria and having to grow up in America, having to experience the blackness in Nigeria and the blackness in America,
02:54I was able to talk to Common and kind of see how we can both merge the two together.
02:59And some of the films that we're capturing will be filmed in Lagos City, Nigeria, and also here in America as well.
03:07Having to highlight cross-continent black people and just how beautiful we are and how we all move forward as people.
03:17Common is very for the people, and he's very for how do we, you know, just bring the black power, the black revolution into the works that we do.
03:25So the dances, the dance moves, the fabric, the clothing, you know, is going to be very inspired by black culture.
03:34When we move, the song, the music made me think about blackness and the beauty of blackness and the power in blackness, the influence of blackness.
03:51And to be honest, I was really thinking about how, as a black American, we have been able to influence and change the world without having all the resources that so many others have.
04:05I chose that beat because I wanted to be able to say, you know, I'm a black man.
04:10And to be honest, I was really thinking about how, as a black American, we have been able to influence and change the world without having all the resources that so many others have.
04:19I chose that beat because it reminded me of Fela Kuti.
04:23Like, it gave me that, but it also had a funk thing that was kind of James Brown soulless, but hip hop.
04:30It's got all these different little ingredients that I love about the types of music I love.
04:36Fela Kuti is a revolutionary musician from Nigeria, from Lagos, Nigeria, who was one of the godfathers of Afrobeat.
04:45And he was speaking to revolution and to what was going on politically in his country for a long time.
04:54And his music always spoke in a pure and a raw way.
04:57And it was so soulful.
04:59And it's so, like, beautiful.
05:01He makes songs 12 minutes, 15 minutes, and I rock to them.
05:06The whole world follows in our path.
05:11When we move, the whole world follows in our path.
05:17I called Tariq Black Thought and was like, yo, Tariq, can you work on a hook for me?
05:24Look, this joint giving me Fela, man, so I want, you know.
05:28And it's just so full circle because, like I said, he introduced me to Fela.
05:33So I'm like, come on, man, can you come with a hook?
05:35Now, mind you, before Tariq got to me calling him about the hook, I had PJ working on the hook.
05:42And we had an idea.
05:44And it was dope.
05:45But I really wanted to come with something that felt in the Fela world, like the Afrobeat that I've grown to love.
05:53So I knew Tariq knew that.
05:56So he was like, yo, I got something, I got an idea.
06:01And then he laid it, and I was like, oh, this is cold.
06:04I couldn't believe that was him singing.
06:06I could, but I couldn't because it was like, you know, it's just when we move, the whole world follows in our path.
06:13But he sounded like different.
06:15It didn't sound all the way like him.
06:17People to this, when I play it, they're like, who is that singing?
06:19I'm like, that's Black Thought.
06:21So when I heard the hook, I was like, you summed up everything I really wanted to say.
06:28You made it so clear.
06:30And it sounds good.
06:32This is amazing.
06:38Then I asked him, I said, yo, can you do a verse?
06:41He said, yeah, of course.
06:42He said, of course, I got you.
06:44He sent me a verse.
06:46I'm going crazy over the verse.
06:52And then he was like, yo, I got my man, Shaun Cootie.
06:57I don't know if you're all familiar with his music.
06:59I'm like, I know a little bit about him, but I have him dropping an idea.
07:04So it was his idea to get Shaun on the song.
07:09And I heard, like, maybe two, three days later, I heard Shaun's vocals, which I was like, oh, man, this is above and beyond what I knew that this song would go to.
07:23And then I heard the horns.
07:25And I was like, this is it.
07:26This is like, we kind of evolved this song from being just being a hip hop, raw joint.
07:34It feel a little bit like James Brown to being a song that sounds international.
07:38It felt like, it felt international at that point for me.
07:41I was like, yo, this is like worldwide.
07:46Yeah, my perspective was like, this is how we influence the world as black Americans.
07:51These are people from the essence, from the mother of creation, saying this is how we influence the world.
08:00You know, so it all came together.
08:03And I feel like we took it to the essence of why that song was created.
08:08It's created because of the influence and inspiration of Fela Kootie.
08:12And for us to get Shaun Cootie on there and some of the horn players that played on Fela's records is amazing.
08:19It's an amazing lesson.
08:21And it all just came, you know, the flow.
08:24It's just got to be, you know, natural.
08:26It's just got to flow.
08:27That's what this music is about.
08:31And that moment where we can find joy in the midst of pain, right?
08:36And melody and a moment to dance and to mop our hair.
08:41And in the midst of what we need to do to fight for equality and justice and everything, right?
08:46And you all are bringing that gift.
08:48And it's such an important, important thing that you are giving so many people.
08:53We created Part One, like, within a month and a half because I wanted it to come out before the election.
08:58It was being created at a time where there was a lot of pain and anger and protests and uncertainty.
09:08And I was really, like, looking to channel that energy into music.
09:12There was really, like, a soundtrack towards what a movement can be.
09:16Like, meaning sometimes, you know, when you're preparing for the fight, you need music.
09:22Sometimes when you're going through the pain, you need music.
09:26When we were out in the streets and protesting, music was being played.
09:31You know, during the Civil Rights Movement, they sang songs.
09:35That was the communication.
09:36So I felt like Part One was that movement music just kind of really, to me, being an inspiration and a support for those who were all going through the struggle.
09:50And so many were. So many of us were.
09:53I can't hear you.
09:58After, like, releasing that charge and knowing what the movement is and actually having a chance to breathe, what is a revolution for us now?
10:11What I started to focus on and my intention was to bring joy into music, to bring, like, inspiration into music and bring, like, self-love into a beautiful revolution.
10:27For me, Part Two is, like, saying, man, we all in process in some way or another in bettering ourselves.
10:34And that's by choice. And let's choose the better things to better ourselves.
10:39Empowerment is one of the things that I really wanted Part Two to be about.
10:43Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! Move it!
10:47They was dancing like crazy.
10:49I know, I know.
10:50They charged.
10:51Mr. Jones and everything.
10:52Are you a good dancer, too?
10:54I'm an artist.
10:55No, I know, but I mean, like, can't you have moves?
10:57Oh, no, I can sing. I can sing, but, like, no, I ain't got no.
10:59I'm an artist, too.
11:00I ain't got no, I ain't got no.
11:03I don't got jack.
11:04I can clap.
11:05Yeah.
11:06I can clap real good. I'm really good at that.
11:10Hold up! Hold up! Hold up!
11:14And what I was feeling, like, when I was dancing, I was like, oh, this is free.
11:17You just express yourself and just feel the music.
11:20And what was real cool was the song had stopped and we coming up with new stuff, just dancing and moving around
11:26because they kept the beat going and the music going.
11:31Dancers, actors, they just brought energy and I was just participating in it.
11:37Honestly, I kind of forgot that we were filming a video in a way.
11:41You just kind of, you see the camera at a certain point, but you're just, like, moving around and you're just feeling the energy.
11:47It really is, like, a good time.
11:52You know, I think that's the, one of the greatest things about music.
11:57Because it's a divine expression, it'll take you to where it needs to be.
12:07Woo!
12:10Woo!
12:15You don't want to break.
12:16Whitney, you don't want to break.
12:17That's what you wanted, Whitney.
12:19You didn't want to break.