videoVic Mensa ft Wyclef Jean, Chance the Rapper 'Shelter' by Andre Muir Andre Muir's video for Vic Mensa's Shelter could not be more personal, powerful and heartfelt. It is a tribute to his mother - who passed away after contracting Covid-19 last year - and the many thousands of African-Americans who have also succumbed to the virus.Filmed in Chicago, Muir has shone a spotlight on the devastating impact of coronavirus with some indelible imagery, and shows how Mensa's track is an appropriate jumping point for an artistic statement of grief.After children sing 'Ring a Roses', the adults start to fall down, in the streets. Dancers carry flowers, and wear masks made of flowers. The flowers are placed on the victims who in a simple yet chilling final act, are replaced by mounds of coffin-shaped earth in the street. Most heartbreakingly of all, a narrative plays out of a mother and young son - who ends up mourning his mum.These images accompany Vic Mensa's account of the impact of Covid on the Black population of the USA, and weave his performance with those of Wyclef Jean and Chance The Rapper. Mensa provides the shaft of righteous anger in the piece, while the visual theme focusses upon the human tragedy, the scale of the disaster, and honouring those who have passed. An unflinchingly great work for our troubled times.
David Knight - 10th Feb 2021