Having turned 10 last year, Bad Rabbits are not only admired by music fans in New England and beyond, but they are also looked up to by innumerable artists. Their accomplishments, music, and track record considered, it’s no surprise that Fredua Boakye, Salim Akram, and Sheel Davé are leading in this moment, in part by dropping a video and merchandise for the track “WWYD” from their album American Nightmare, with all proceeds going to the NAACP. The band said in a statement:
Coming to you live from the United States, welcome back to our recurring American Nightmare.
This ain’t a newsflash; this is a wake-up call, and it will not be brought to you via network news, nor will it be sponsored by a damn soft drink, cigarette or social media channel.
Our streets are burning, our people have coalesced and now the fight comes straight to your eardrums.
Initially dropped in 2016, Bad Rabbits’ second full release ‘American Nightmare’ found the band, along with the rest of the country, at a crossroads with engines idling high. Founding members and childhood friends Fredua Boakye, Salim Akram and Sheel Davé – each in tune with Bad Brains as much as Bel Biv Devoe – bravely peeled out with a more aggressive, organic sound and brutally honest lyrics that both polarized and exhilarated fans old and new.
Right album at the wrong time? Nah. ‘American Nightmare’ was the siren warning of the oncoming storm.
Fast forward to 2020 and what has changed over the course of four years? Shit, what has changed over the course of 400-plus years? It took a pandemic, killer police and a filler president just to get the masses listening. Now that we have your ears, please allow us to reintroduce ourselves.
Welcome back to our Nightmare.
You can purchase your shirt at the Bad Rabbits online store. “WWYD” lyrics below.
When innocence holds a toy and guilt carries the gun
When a father can go home to his kids and a mother loses her son
When cops aim to treat life like hunting game
What would you do? Huh?!
When the world revolves around em but stops with your shade?
When triggers are pulled before questions are asked?
when triggers are pulled i ask
WWYD HUH?
WWYD HUH?
When the news spews the same rhetoric material
When the youth are spoon feed lies like they eating cereal
When surreal turns to realist ish you’ve ever witnessed
When the candle vigils look like they are normal business
When the reverend pimpin’
Y’all can’t even tell the difference
When you really listen to
To them old white politicians
When they really miss the concept of a real religion
And they never blame the mindset
They just point the finger
When you got the mouth to combat
But you have no millions
When you need to find the conscious
And yet keep it triller
When the courts obey the monster
they reward the killer
When the courts neglect the Mamas
N they reward the killer
When the court neglect the concept
They reward them
WWYD
Tell em dine on their own bullets tonight
Tell em dine on their own bullets tonight
Tell em dine on their conflict
Tell em dine on their bullshit
They gon dine on their bullets tonight
Yo this for the fallen
Sing for them
NO JUSTICE NO PEACE
Yo sing it for the fallen
Yea this is for the fallen
Ima sing for them
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.
