Compton rapper Simmie Sims — better known as Buddy — has lived all over LA, but still calls the South LA streets home. He returned to his roots for his vertical-oriented, black-and-white “Black” video to showcase another side of Black pride alongside ASAP Ferg, who makes his appearance in the video via FaceTime call.
The stark video finds Buddy and friends cruising South LA landmarks and displaying a cultural pride much different than the sanitized version that often gets displayed on TV and in movies. But people in Watts, Compton, and South Central are no less proud of their cultural heritage than anyone else, and Buddy illustrates that with a trip to the Slauson Super Mall (aka the Slauson Swap Meet), the Watts Towers, and Randy’s Donuts in Ingelwood, which aside from being one of those shops with a huge donut on top, is a sort of cultural institution in itself.
Buddy’s time spent in the various disparate quarters of Los Angeles certainly provided the young rapper with many different perspectives, but it also gave him the inspiration for his pair of EPs from last year. Ocean & Montana and Magnolia weren’t just inspired by his experiences on each street, they were also collaborative creative efforts fueled by the producers he teamed up with for each (Kaytranada on Ocean & Montana, Mike & Keys on Magnolia). However, with “Black,” Buddy seems to have found a new direction, and as with many things in life, it leads him right back home.
