K!mmortal "Jungle" Video Premiere in Honor of International Womxn's Day
K!mmortal spitting bars during the filming of "Jungle" / Camerawork by Khalil Equiano
In celebration of International Womxn's Day, we're honored to premiere one of our all-time favorite rappers K!mmortal's new video for "Jungle"! She was our second #MusicMonday post EVER, we've been forever jocking her style, substance, and insane talent - she's not only a sick rapper and soulful-ass singer, she's also an award-winning actor, is deeply involved in queer + anti-racist activism, and is the founder of 'SHE' an annual event celebrating indigenous, black, and WOC in word and music. Featuring Missy D and fellow Pinay Jillthy, "Jungle" is a major woke WOC anthem on people power, fighting the patriarchy, rejecting societal beauty standards, and celebrating sisterhood (+ it hella slaps). Shot by Khalil Equiano (Khingz) and edited by K!m herself, the clip was shot in the streets of Vancouver and really captures each of these incredible rappers' vibes. K!m was kind enough to share her thoughts on the vid and some behind-the-scenes exclusives.
Hella Pinay: I'd love if you could share some words around "Jungle" and your intentions for releasing the video on International Womxn's Day!
K!mmortal: Jungle is the system that we find ourselves living in, the chaos of this world that we both critique and deconstruct as well as make a home out of. We both suffer (toil and break thru capitalism/white supremacy/patriarchy) and thrive (build relations/make art/uplift) within this Jungle.
I wanted to celebrate the brown and proud women in my life who continue to model what it looks like to create joy and music in this jungle. Every community has womyn whose creative labour holds the sky up. Sometimes it can feel like much of our work is invisibilized or not truly honoured. We're lowballed at shows, assessed on everything but our talent, cast as sidekicks, assigned backup vocals, or honoured only after we're dead (Frida, Selena, etc.). "Jungle" is the platform that spotlights our fire and documents our joy as black and brown women spitting BARS.
Jillthy, K!mmortal, & Missy D behind-the-scenes
How do y'all know each other and how did you connect?
We all know each other from the small, woke, black and brown hip-hop & arts community based here on unceded ancestral Coast Salish territory aka Vancouver. We've watched each other grow in music and are all huge fans of each other. Missy D has her solo rap hustle on lock, and Jillthy is a fashion designer, new mama, and rapper/singer from Purple Hearts Social Club. We've been at each other's fundraisers, and performed alongside each other at community events and parties. I think this video was a much needed representation of WOC rapping over beats from this side of the world.
How did the song and video come about?
I made the beat for "Jungle" in my mom's kitchen one day when I was experimenting with samples. If you listen close, you'll hear samples of the kulintang off a Youtube vid, as well as my mom's caged canary birds who were crying beside me.
The beat was fire and I sent it off to Jillthy and Missy and gave them the concept of really letting loose around what it means to be unapologetic as women of colour. Weeks later, we got into studio and laid the raps down. All our lyrics are on the Bandcamp page so please do check that out.
We filmed "Jungle" one early evening in the summer with the generous creative genius of Khalil, also a very accomplished emcee from Seattle but based here in Van who filmed the whole thing. We winged it in like 2 hours and I did all the editing cause I love creative control like that. The whole thing is super DIY, no professionally hired crew or anything, just the homies and my iPhone playing the track that Khalil would cue up every time we shot a new segment. It was so much fun and the film really captured that.
Peep this fire below!!!!!