Last month, NiccoFeem and Marc 2Ray teamed up for a powerful number titled “Perspectives,” which sees production from MadKutz and, as the title suggests, sees the two artists given off their individual perspectives about race relations, law enforcement, and more. While Marc 2Ray recalls his family coming to America to escape the Armenian genocide, NiccoFeem zeroes in on his experiences as a Black man living and maintaining within the same country:
“Let’s just be honest, I’ma let you in on a secret, to help you understand Black lives and how we’re treated, I was raised knowing that life wouldn’t be fair to me, my grandmother told me that white people are scared of me, no matter how much I do in life, just set me apart, to them I’ll just be a nigga, deep down in their hearts, there’s nothing I can do to change it, I have to provide, I didn’t choose to be born here, but I must survive…”
Accompanying “Perspectives” is a matching black-and-white video that sees direction from Joe Hancher. The clip shows the two artists delivering their verses from different locations throughout downtown Washington, D.C., including what appears to be the now-popular Black Lives Matter Plaza that exists near the White House.
Via press release, NiccoFeem further explained what made the collaborators bring such a poignant song to fruition:
“My emotional driven storytelling comes from wanting to shed light on the power of mental health and self-awareness. At the time the race riots were at their peak and George Floyd had just been killed. I felt strongly about this situation and so did Marc. We naturally began to speak about it and over the course of the evening decided we would talk about it for the greater good.”
With that, you can press play on “Perspectives” below.