Making music that speaks to the situation of things in Nigeria isn’t new and Falz is one of the few artists that can tell it well.
For The Lawyer-cum Artist, Falz knows how to make music that reflects the issues plaguing Society, from rape to corruption to Politics, he has told it all with his music.
One of his notable works that got him even international recognition was “This Is Nigeria” a cover of Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”.
The Music video gave the best representation of Nigeria’s major issues and the decay in human society.
When he released “Johnny” a year ago from his “Moral Instruction” EP, he was addressing a well-known disease that was affecting citizens faster than Coronavirus, “Police Brutality”.
The Afro hip hop track infused with a sample from “J.J.D. (Johnny Just Drop) by Fela Kuti tackles insecurity and reckless killings by the Police in Nigeria.
On Johnny visuals which was directed by OluWave, Falz samples some visuals from the EndSars protest and most especially the Lekki Massacre.
The Video starts with people gathered around someone and a man taking a picture before cutting to Falz on the ground bleeding while holding an iPhone, a problem the Nigerian Police seems to have with the Youths.
What follows is a viral clip of Police shooting an unarmed man who is lying helplessly on the ground.
Then various people also on the ground in their pool of blood are shown. The interesting part of the video was the adding of clips from the revolutionary #EndSars protest that took place.
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For its second act, we see a Youth Corper along with his friends chilling in a car before they are stopped by the Police to pay ‘homage’ but when they stubbornly refuse to do this and get into an argument, a bullshot from a policeman leaves the corper dead.
Then we a clip of the Lekki Tollgate Incident where the person who is shooting the video narrates how the army is shooting at peaceful protesters, an incident the Government and the Army have been trying to deny.
This clip is important as Falz uses the medium to remind the Nigerian Government that Nigerians saw what happened that night and won’t be gaslighted into believing otherwise.
Then we are treated to some painful clips of Parents who have lost their Children to Police Brutality expressing their pains.
The ending of the song is a question that people have been asking, “If the Police continue to kill innocent citizens, how many people would remain?”
Johnny Music video is a reminder that the war isn’t over and the #EndSars Protest was just the beginning.