Touting his heritage in the opening lyrics–"Black power, brown pride"–M.E.D., also known as Medaphoar, begins what he calls the "realest song on my album." His sophomore album "Classic" was released November 1, produced in large part by Madlib and full of feel-good tracks.
The video for "Blaxican" came out a few days ago, using images of murals, community elders, youth and mixed-race families as the backdrop for lyrics tackling racial tensions, poverty, drugs and gang culture. "It’s just something that’s gotta be touched on. It’s definitely a serious matter," said M.E.D. in an interview with Out Da Box TV.
The West Coast rapper’s mother is Mexican and his father is Black, so his perspective as a mixed-race young man shaped his experience growing up Oxnard, CA, where Black-Brown relations are colored by racial violence. "I grew up in an environment where you go to junior high school or elementary with a cat and when you go to high school you cant even talk to the dude in the hallways…I came from Oxnard High School where we had riots every year."
M.E.D. recently lost his friend David Cameron Gonzales, a music producer also from Oxnard, whose death earlier this year is another tragic symptom of the area’s problem of violence and gang-related activity. He dedicated this song to Gonzales, and to all lives lost due to racial violence. We think it’s important to show love for music with a message, so it’s good to hear M.E.D. recognizing the need to work together, across racial lines, to achieve peace on the streets.
Thanks to Colorlines reader Andres Reyes for sending in this submission.
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