Jamila Woods’ critically acclaimed LEGACY!LEGACY! album is out now on Jagjaguwar in partnership with Closed Sessions. ‘Baldwin’ now has an incredibly profound video, that transforms the underfunded and often ignored Chicago Public School system into Hogwarts providing books and the support that all children deserve. Jamila explains:
“The song is inspired by James Baldwin’s “Letter to My Nephew.” In that spirit the film revolves around a group of Black youth in an imagined school on Chicago’s South Side, like Hogwarts–but Black. To outsiders, the school appears to be abandoned – one of the 50 public schools closed under Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s watch in 2013. However, for Black people in the neighbourhood this space is a gem, an oasis of Black learning and radical education for young people. We shot part of the film documentary-style, to include young people’s perspectives on what they would want their dream school to be like.”
The director, Vincent Martell of VAM STUDIO, adds: “My goal as director was to keep the integrity of the track and infuse the majestical spirit of James Baldwin. By working with Jamila to place black CPS students in the forefront of the narrative, we create a world filled with overwhelming possibilities and black joy. The black community is magical and opulent and full of vibrancy, in this video we’re just showing the world what we already see.”
