Image Credit: Vevo
Vic Mensa has partnered with Vevo for an exclusive behind the scenes look at the music video for “SHELTER” in the latest installment of Vevo Footnotes. Vic Mensa, Wyclef Jean, Chance the Rapper and director Andre Muir discuss the making of the song and video.
A complete outline of “SHELTER | Vevo Footnotes” is listed below:
(00:17) Narration: The video for “SHELTER” was directed by Andre Muir.
(00:23) Wyclef and Vic recorded a version of the song in 2016, but there was one verse on it that Vic didn’t love, so it never came out.
Image Credit: Vevo
(00:31) Vic Mensa: “I got a DM from a woman who told me she was a fan of my music and introduced me to a man named Julius Jones who is on death row in Oklahoma.
(00:37) She told me he had been signing his outgoing letters with ‘Theme Music We Could Be Free by Vic Mensa.
(00:43) I got chills down my spine, and shortly after was inspired to write the verses for SHELTER.”
Image Credit: Vevo
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Image Credit: Vevo
(1:19) Narration: “Director Muir says the inspiration for the video’s theme came from the idea of being forgotten. Ignored or unacknowledged.”
(1:27) Andre Muir: “I have this sad feeling in my gut that all of the victims of the pandemic are going to be forgotten. The 450K victims at the time of writing this.”
(1:31) It’s common discourse to sort of write the victims of COVID off as having been weak or sickly, in a way making them seem like they didn’t matter.”
Image Credit: Vevo
(1:42) Vic Mensa: “In putting together the concept for this video, Andre Muir and I definitely had some heavy conversations in our attempt to find a visual narrative…
(1:47) that could represent the record but also have a life of it’s own. When he came up with the COVID-19 direction it just made sense,
(1:52) especially given the fact that his mother recently passed from COVID.”
(2:04) Andre Muir: “There’s a real renaissance happening right now, where there is a focus on black work, black content, black art and I feel like it’s a long time coming.”
Image Credit: Vevo
(2:14) Chance the Rapper: “It’s always special when me and Vic get to create together. I think we pull out the best in each other.
(2:17) Usually we build a song together from the ground up, you know pick the beat, write the hook, and come up with the idea together,
(2:24) but I was happy that Vic already had this song with Wyclef, and offered me the opportunity to get on it.”
(2:33) Andre Muir: “The Majority of the cast was from Chicago’s South Side. It was important that the cast members feel authentic.
(2:37) All of the actors were real people and not actors.”
(2:46) Chance the Rapper: “It’s cool that the video dropped during BHM because the song really speaks specifically about the black experience of young folks in America.
(2:51) It breaks down abuse, houselessness, systemic racism and mental wellness in a way that intentionally centers the young people.”
Image Credit: Vevo
(3:03) Vic Mensa: “One of my favorite scenes from the video is in the intro when the little girls were playing ring around the rosie with the burning building behind them.
(3:07) I think that imagery really captures the essence of the song, because it’s speaking on how we play this game,
(3:13) living and dying, often oblivious to the world on fire around us.”
(3:24) Narration: The video takes place in a local neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. The cul-de-sac is the same one in which the movie Roll Bounce was filmed.
Image Credit: Vevo
(3:34) Andre Muir: “I chose a cul-de-sac because I felt it was metaphorical in being this kind of ‘end of the road.’ I wanted the video to be this journey,
(3:38) Vic walks down this Chicago South Side street, a kind of microcosm for America, and eventually arrives at the end of the road,
(3:44) end of the world, end of America, it’s kinda the way things feel right now.”
Image Credit: Vevo
(4:06) Narration: Vic’s sister is the lead ballet dancer in the video.
(4:46) Wyclef applauds artists like Vic by saying…
(4:48) Wyclef Jean: “Music is the only true universal language. I believe as artists we have a duty to inform through art.
(4:53) So, to see this younger generation standing up for what is right and fair, makes me very happy.”
Image Credit: Vevo
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