(Photo: provided by Bryan Barber)
Bryan Barber decided to give viewers a glimpse into his cell phone with the new video, “Devil Just Trying to be Seen.” The protest song finds 2 Chainz and Skooly trading versus on the recent uprising and social injustice that’s taking place across the nation.
The entire video is captured via clips of uprisings that have gone viral on social media. Due to the recent pandemic, social media has allowed humans to stay connected while also providing a glimpse of today’s reality.
On July 13, Barber joined rolling out’s “A.M. Wake-Up Call” to discuss his latest project.
“Devil Just Trying to be Seen,” sheds light on the ongoing protests that occurred following the police brutality incident that took George Floyd’s life. Why is this song, video so important?
It’s social commentary. I wanted to do a video about what I was experiencing at that time during the protests. It was a lot of unrest and anger and chaos. People are depending on their phones. When 2 Chainz sent me the song, it fit into an idea that I had been playing with for a while. I love staying creative. It helps me build with my own challenges in life. I lost my son at 8-years-old. I try to stay creative to stay balanced.
You use social media as an interface throughout the entire video. How did you come up with that concept?
I wanted to tap into my emotions with it. When you look at Instagram right now, it’s people dancing and deejaying without many protests and I think that’s a problem. But during that moment, all I was getting was unrest. Protests and firebombs. The one moment that was profound was the guy on the police horse. It reminded me of Paul Revere who let everyone [know] that the revolution was coming. It struck me that people wanted to express their level of anger. I had these moments in my personal life during that time as well. The day after my mother passed, 2 Chainz sent me the song.
Why do you think this video will stand out?
The video is organic. The idea is to have an idea of the outcome of a message. You are experiencing me in a private conversation. Then you want to know if I’m going to show you too much. It’s about how we deal with each other. The phone is its own organism. You can do anything on an iPhone. We no longer know our best friend’s phone number. There are so many layers to it.
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