T.I.‘s latest album ‘Us Or Else: Letter to the System,’ was the rapper’s musical response to the murders of unarmed Black citizens at the hands of police. Now there is a visual to go with it.
Tonight (April 24) at 11 p.m. ET T.I.’s short film, ‘Us or Else,’ will premiere on BET. Following the airing Tip will will have a discussion about police brutality with CNN political commentator Angela Rye.
According to the rapper, his short film will explore the strain relationship between police and the black community. In the visual he plays a cop in the film that provides viewers with an up close look at the the turmoil within the city, and he hopes the film will spark more dialogue about policing.
“Police brutality is really just a tentacle to a larger problem – the racial divide and the systemic racism that goes on from the highest of highs to the lowest of the low of society in America,” he told CNN in an interview.
However, while he thinks the conversations surrounding the issue have “mobilized a lot of people and awakened a lot of people,” he said that if the living conditions in the inner cities don’t improve nothing will get solved.
“If you place any creature in such excruciating circumstances over periods and periods of time … after so long, they will be agitated and antagonized,” he said. “It’s human nature, so to not expect that after the type of treatment that has been rendered is insane.”
Watch the trailer for Us or Else here.