Joy in a Crappy World | Chris Brown and Young Thug's "Go Crazy" Video
Quarantine didn’t truly start taking its toll on me until May, which was bookended by unjust U.S. tragedies—specifically for Black America. I got to feeling cooped up in my house and in my skin. Footage of Ahmaud Arbery being shot and killed by white men while jogging in Georgia hit the Internet on May 5. Then on Memorial Day (May 25) a white policeman knelt on George Floyd's neck for eight minutes after he nabbed Floyd for committing a petty crime, killing in front on a sidewalk audience over $20.
Video of that too was all over the ‘Net. I watched both a few times, sinking deeper into a quiet frustration and sadness, trying to press on with work projects and also be a pleasant daddy to a baby girl who has no clue what’s going on outside of our home. For the next few days I immersed myself in the thoughts of bright Black minds from now and yesterday.
I’d watch Cornel West segments on the news and clips from Trevor Noah. I streamed HBO’s Martin Luther King Jr. documentary King in the Wilderness, then played James Baldwin doc I Am Not Your Negro on Amazon Prime. After that, I ran through Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool on Netflix. All of these deeply intelligent works provided various levels of catharsis and a greater understanding of the world I’m in.
I wasn’t really looking for “fun.” If anything, I was after art that met me at my mood. At best, I’d play songs adjacent to Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”—mildly uplifting cuts I could commiserate with while praying for a better future. Oddly enough, every now and then clips of my loose-limbed people dancing would cross my path on Instagram and Twitter. “HOW(?!),” I wondered as I scrolled by, “could anybody be dancing right now?” But one day I clicked on one to hear the track. It was Chris Brown and Young Thug’s “Go Crazy,” a mindless, freewheeling collision of New Orleans bounce, Hip-Hop, and R&B meant for the fun summer 2020 has been trying to steal from us since March.
In tough times, you never know where joy will come from. “Go Crazy” and its viral dance craze has made me smile at every watch and listen. Seeing Chris, Shiggy and many more boogie really lifted my spirits. Black people having fun in public is an act of defiance in a country that still searches for new ways to stifle minorities seeking empowerment. You can imagine how happy I was to learn that Chris and Thug dropped the official music video for it this morning.
Sometimes when things are shitty, you’ve just got to play a jam and groove off the struggle—as I have in my shower and all over our apartment. “Go Crazy” is my get-out-of-sad-free card for this season—even if the freedom only lasts for as long as the song runs.
What’s that thing in your life that’s sure to make you at least grin? I just wanted to remind you that it’s okay to indulge yourself in times like these. Laugh at dumb memes, eat some ice cream… You get it.
Find your happiness and rock out.