Amid the demonstrations across the country protesting police brutality and the death of George Floyd, many musicians have chosen to delay releases so that the world can better focus on combatting racial injustices. G-Eazy made a similar decision, telling a fan on Twitter that he delayed his Everything’s Strange Here album release because “there’s more important things going on in our country than releasing new music rn.” Instead of releasing new music, the rapper chose to revisit his 2017 track “Love Is Gone” with a touching visual.
Originally appearing on his record The Beautiful & Damned, G-Eazy’s “Love Is Gone” is filled with politically-charged commentary that still holds meaning today. “When cops are killing people, and they can’t take the blame / They get acquitted, then you wonder why all the people rage, stupid / We all keep praying for peace, praying for progress / If you live in the hills then you stay in the projects,” G-Eazy raps on the track.
To re-frame the song as a modern protest anthem, the visual’s directors Matt Bauerschmidt and Sterling Hampton chose to compile clips of some of the ongoing protests. Blurring faces for privacy, the visual shows moving clips of thousands of demonstrators marching the streets together and pushing for change. Echoing the track’s message, G-Eazy wrote upon sharing the visual on social media: “Until we all love each other nobody benefits.”
G-Eazy also said of the video, “I wrote ‘Love Is Gone’ in the Summer of 2016…Fast forward 4 years later, and the same racial injustices are still happening day after day in our country. The fight against inequality is as important as ever. This is more than just a song to me, it’s a message… All lives can’t matter until #BLACKLIVESMATTER. Big love to my fam Drew Love and to JAHMED for blessing it with a new verse with some thoughts of his own.”
Watch G-Eazy’s “Love Is Gone” video above.
