Since its inception, America has been ravaged by racism. There was a hope that the ending of brutal, centuries-long slavery, and furthermore, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, would annihilate this hatred rooted so deeply in our country. However, recently, it seems as though nothing has changed. Police brutality in urban, minority communities is re-approaching its zenith with the popularity of racist, police shootings; and it feels as though we are voiceless in the midst of these atrocities. That is, for everyone aside from Chicago rapper, John Will. 

On his latest release, “Black In America”, produced by Grammy Award winner, Ricco Lumpkins, Will refuses to go unheard. Over a room-shaking, golden era beat, the Chitown emcee is brash and in-your-face. There’s a pulse of undeniable adrenaline and unquenchable anger coursing through each bar he spits regarding the current state of our nation. “Police buy you food after you’ve shot up a church—“ he rhynes in his second verse, referencing the tragedy that struck Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. It is bars such as that one that divide this record from so many other conscious ones before it. On this joint, backed by a sample-heavy, boom-bap production, he addresses the harsh, gut-wrenching realities of American racism. Wielding the spirit of the Black Panthers, and so many revolutionaries before him, John Will holds no punches on “Black In America”. And that makes for one, controversial, yet much-needed, perfectly-executed haymaker of a record.