The rampant cry from police brutality brought famous rapper, T.I., to compose a new musical project directly correlated to the racial events that have recently occurred in the United States. T.I. started this movement with a song titled We Will Not. Following the release of this song, T.I. also wrote a song called Warzone. After receiving an abundance of downloads and listens, T.I. and his group of directors decided to construct music videos for both songs. These were not your stereotypical music videos. The We Will Not visual shows protests that involve intense uses of color, repetition, and overall demand for change within our society and law enforcement. Dissimilar to this first installment, Warzone uses clever techniques including role-reversal and the video relates to specific racial events that recently occurred in neighborhoods and cities. T.I. wants to portray these relations in a way that shocks the viewer but also voices truth about the wrong doings in our political society. It is clear to the viewer that T.I’s overall project is being used a tool for demands in social change and equality between races. Therefore, it is more powerful to watch both together which provides an amplified effect.

T.I. is famous for preaching against police brutality and black oppression in general. He is one of many renowned artists who are no longer going to be silent. Two music videos, revolving around times of great protest, that have gotten an exorbitant amount of attention within the last year is an astounding way to get a point across. However, He knows that one song or one video is not going to make any type of difference. T.I. refuses to sit back and watch what is going on and that is how he makes the viewer feel after watching We Will Not. He knew that this song and video was getting an abnormal amount of attention and that is why he decided to release an entire new song and music video, Warzone. In this video T.I. states: “We will not be silent” (T.I.). T.I. knows that in order to make a larger change occur he has to be persistent and continue to voice his opinion. For this reason, he presents a similar message in the end of Warzone: “The new racism is to deny that racism exists” (T.I.). In this context, denial is a form of silence. During the protests hand-written signs are held strong by mothers of innocent black men and children that could not escape the hands of the oppressors. The hand-written signs show poverty and the overall drive to fight back against police brutality. 

In both songs, T.I. also addresses the problem of non-conviction of officers that commit murderous crimes. The first installment, We Will Not, is primarily focused around a black man named Freddie Gray. It is important that the viewer understands Gray’s story before they see the video. Four officers arrested Gray back in April of 2015, supposedly excessive force was not used to make the arrest. About a week after Gray’s arrest he died from a broken vertebra. The death of Gray eventually leads to the Baltimore riots and T.I. putting pencil to paper and writing the rap song, We Will Not. In the majority of the cases involving police brutality it is common that the police officer(s) have to go to court and stand trial for the event that previously transpired. In almost every incident involving a white oppressor and a black victim, the oppressor is not convicted and the victim is not compensated. In the We Will Not music video one of the first posters seen in the music video is: “The killer cop walks” (T.I.). This references the Freddie Gray case, the four officers involved were not convicted and they walked out of the court house as free men. Similarly, in the Warzone music video, the officers involved in the shooting of the black teen with the plastic gun were also found not guilty. Through the lyrics and visuals, the viewer can feel the emotion and attempt to understand how the black society of the United States live in fear. These incidents seem to always involve misinterpretations by the trigger happy oppressors and the colored skin of the victims.  

T.I. says we countless times in both songs; the we he is referring to is the black population that is fighting for equality for themselves and justice for their oppressors. Protests are occurring and often become violent due to the denial that racism still exists. A woman with a worried stricken face held a sign that asked: “Is my son next?” (T.I.). Suppose T.I. used role-reversal, like he did in Warzone, here and showed a white woman holding this sign. It is simple to infer that if this were true, there would be even more outrage over the event and there is a high chance that the officer involved would have been a guaranteed conviction. By repeating we, T.I. is stressing the importance of the black community coming together and helping one another in these times of trauma. 

The world we live in consists of millions of unique people, different colors, different faces and most importantly different culture. In the United States, the two most common races are: Caucasian and African-American. White and black are the two colors that are seen day in and day out. These people have lived among each other for thousands of years, however prejudices have been created and still they exist today. T.I. uses the colors black and white in the music video for We Will Not to portray the society as a whole. He also uses his ability to create raps and songs to portray how he feels about what is going on today. The African-American people are known for their creative lyrics and rhythm within the Hip-Hop genre. Today, a percentage of all races listen to Hip-Hop and the audience seems to grow year by year. By writing music and creating music videos T.I. reaches a large population, most of which are affected by the words he is preaching. 

As viewers of these two position-altering music videos and citizens of the United States, change must be enacted. Our country needs to recognize its wrongdoings and find a way to right it. This racism or denial of racism cannot continue, but if it does continue, so will T.I.’s black lives matter music. We Will Not let it get any more out of hand, and cannot stand to let it get any worse. We need to recognize these Warzones and find ways to make them safer and equal.  Rappers, celebrities and everyday civilians are starting to speak up because they are disgusted, they see what is wrong and they are trying to help the country as a whole make a change. It is no longer necessary for these two races to be divided by color. It is not, and should never be accepted the way it is now. It does not take much for viewers to notice what is going on, but still not much is being done about it. No one else should suffer from the hands of Law Enforcement, our country needs to act now, before another installment is added to T.I.’s project. 

 