By Myles Crawley

Given the current sentiment surrounding oil companies, this new video is extremely timely and poignant. When you dive deeper, you realize exactly how relevant this video and song really are. The track, “Ballad of the Black Gold” was written and recently released by Reflection Eternal, which is made up of two talented writer/producer/artists named Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli. Hi-Tek wrote the music on the eve of Barack Obama’s presidential victory. Talib Kwali wrote the lyrics after a trip to Nigeria, where he realized just how much the oil business controls segments of our world. He likened it to “hitting you right in the face.”

Throughout Africa, oil companies have wreaked havoc on the indigenous people who live there. They pay off political leaders and bring entire tribal groups to their knees, all in the name of bigger profits and a larger market share. We in the US are largely unaware, but if you were to travel there you would quickly begin to realize exactly how deep the oil companies’ influence runs. What used to be pristine areas of wetlands have been reduced to stinking wastelands that will probably never again be what they once were. The oil companies thrash what doesn’t belong to them. They drive off or kill the local inhabitants and wildlife. Their drilling methods are certainly no where near as stringent as what we have in this country, although even here we are now facing some horrendous ecological fallout.

It is these injustices that fueled Talib Kweli to write “Ballad of the Black Gold”. The accompanying unofficial video was shot by filmmaker and Reflection Eternal fan, Sam Ellison. Kweli and Hi-tek were so deeply affected by the resulting images that they released this new video to the public. I myself was affected not only by the video, but by the song as well. Both are fabulous pieces of work that stand out from the pack. “Ballad of the Black Gold” can be found on Reflection Eternal’s new album entitled Revolutions Per Minute. You can buy it here.

Check them out and tell us what you think.