New York, NY (Top40 Charts) R&B/pop artist Darrell Kelley offers a unique spoken word disclaimer over the hauntingly atmospheric intro to "Wasn't Justified," his blistering takedown of the DA's "official" story vs. the truth of what really happened April 21 when yet another black man, Andrew Brown, Jr. was shot and killed by police in
Elizabeth City during the serving of a drug-related warrant.
The hard hitting musical chronicler of these troubled times - whose #1 hits on the Euro Indie
Music Chart in 2020 included "The Coronavirus," "Police Brutality" and the holiday song "Merry Christmas to You" - says, "It's a shame how I have to keep writing these songs, but we need change in America." Darrell re-iterates the point later in the song when, in great frustration with the way things are, "You may say that you're tired of hearing my same old songs/But if
Marvin Gaye was still here, he'd still be singing 'What's Going On'."
Yes, it's damn shame that a year after the murder of
George Floyd - and despite months of global protests against police brutality and tactics and systemic racism in his name - we're still lamenting the largely unjustifiable killings by police of black men. Brown was killed the day after Floyd's killer, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, was convicted of second degree unintentional murder, third degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Ten days earlier, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old
Black man, was shot and killed by police in Brooklyn center, Minnesota as he attempted to re-enter his vehicle during a traffic stop. And these are just the high profile cases that get media coverage. A recent LA Times article related to the anniversary of the Floyd murder reported that since May 25, 2020, police have killed roughly 1,100 Americans.
In a perfect world where these tragic stories didn't repeat themselves on a constant basis, Darrell could write and sing more romantic songs like his recent single "Baby Bae Baby" or earlier dance club styled hits like "Get Wild." Instead, the prolific, multi-talented singer/songwriter has made it his mission to use his musical gifts to call out the evils and injustice of these killings and systemic racism via tracks like "Black Lives Matter," "Police Brutality," "7 Times," "Release the Transcripts" and "Derrick Scott." In May 2020, Darrell also released "Ahmaud" about the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, which became a powerful headline when video of the incident a few months earlier was released to the media.
Darrell, who calls himself "a music activist for all, no matter your race, gender, history, anything," will be in Oklahoma City on May 29 performing at an event and rally marking the two year anniversary of the death of 42 year old Derrick Scott at the hands of police, which was similar to the Floyd murder in that Scott said, "I can't breathe" while in their custody prior to his death. The singer will be at 1148 NE 36th Street in OKC at 5 pm CST/7 pm EST.
The singer will also appear in Tulsa Memorial Day weekend at the three day
National Black Power Convention to commemorate the 100th Anniversary
Black Wall Street Massacre, one of America's worst and most horrific racial tragedies where mobs of White residence, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked
Black residents and businesses of the Greenwood district.
Darrell was inspired to write "Wasn't Justified" after incendiary segments on of the truth behind the official version of the incident by CNN's Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon. Learning that the public was only shown 20 seconds of video of the two hours of footage available set him off. As with so many of his other tracks, he sings of his desire for truth in an almost stream of consciousness fashion. "You only showed us seconds of the video," he starts. "Show us the real truth/DA said it was justified, but we can't tell/You didn't show us the real proof."
After explaining what he (Darrell) saw on the clip, he laments, "How can you say killing an unarmed black man was justified/Well, we're here to say killing another black man wasn't justified. . Andrew Brown's family and friends need to know how he really died/Show us all of the video/We are tired of hearing your lies…" The track ends abruptly with a single gunshot. Brown's life ended with a shot to the back of the head.
"I don't say this in the song," Darrell says, "but if they could move out of the way of the car and wanted to stop him from getting away, why couldn't they have just shot the tires to stop the car? How did they know there weren't others, including children or a baby, in the car? The cops also weren't thinking about the safety of Andrew's neighbors. They can't just randomly shoot people when there are so many other alternatives. Besides being unjustified, it was pure recklessness all around."
Learn more at darrellkelleyofficial.com; news and updates facebook.com/darrellkelleysmusic. Watch his music, performance and commentary videos at youtube.com/user/latenightwithdarrell/featured.
Listen at soundcloud.com/user-792034936, or reverbnation.com/darrellkelley, and/or darrellkelley.bandcamp.com. You can follow him on Instagram at darrellkellyofficial.
