Hot off the success of one of my favorite albums of the year, BRAT, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya returns with the fantastic EP Black Plight. Of all of the musical commentary on the uprising against the cops, this EP has stood out against the rest. Forgoing the dreamy R&B of BRAT, Black Plight is a raucous math rock EP that delivers insightful reactions to the current political climate.
It begins with the angular guitar riffs of “My Life,” which asks the listener as well as the police how much black lives are worth. Cutting through all the bullshit equating property damage to violence, he sings:
“Macy’s or Human Life? Human Life!
Cop car or Human Life? Human Life!
Rolex or Human Life? Human Life!
You can fix a Target but you can’t bring a person back to life.”
There is humor and beauty in this song but it doesn’t obscure the righteous anger that is spread through this EP. Anger comes up again on the next song, “Rage.” This is the heaviest song I’ve heard from him and he thrusts all that added weight directly at the cops. He breaks into an indignant cry towards the end: “Had to burn it all down just to be heard / But we still ain’t heard.”
The final song leans into the cliches of political music in a humorous way. The screams of “It’s all propaganda / Politicians’ agendas!” sounds like something that could have come from the birth of punk music. Nonetheless, the riotous energy and skilled musicianship on display offer the track a touching sincerity. The track breaks down at an emotional peak and leaves us all with a call to action: “It’s the same shit again and again /
Can’t sit around and wait for something to change.”
Check out NNAMDÏ’s catalog and buy Black Plight here.
Freeing Music 