MH the Verb talks marginalization and hope in Afrofuturistic "Yo America" video - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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MH the Verb | photo by John Vettese for WXPN

Pittsburgh native and Philly based rapper MH the Verb recently dropped a music video for his song “Yo America,” from his latest project Afronaut. The Afronaut LP is about a Black heroine who travels back in time to our present, to uplift and empower us. The music videos for the LP help narrate the story of the Afronaut’s journey.

The music video follows the main character as she wanders around a warehouse of books (Fishtown’s Bookspace) periodically breaking into dance, before meeting MH the Verb at the end. The video was released this February to add to the Black History Month celebration.

The lyrics of the song were originally a poem Verb wrote in order to sort out the feelings of anger and disappointment felt by himself and many other marginalized people after the election of Donald Trump. The message of the song resonates with lyrics like “Yo America, why you hate us?” and “No justice for Freddy Grey / Black lives don’t go away.”

Although many lyrics talk about heavy topics that can inspire anger and sadness, the video and song have an air of hope as well. The production of the song, from Buscrates 16-Bit Ensemble, uses synths and a subtle tambourine which keeps it from sounding too dark. The chorus also echoes a mantra of positivity with “But when they go low, that’s when we get high.”

Check out the video for “Yo America” down below.

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