Safira Mono continues the struggle
Reggae artiste Safira Mono is getting rave reviews for her latest video Cruff Life , which features an 18th-century slavery theme complete with a Great House, sweating field slaves, and white slave owners.
“ Cruff Life is a song for ghetto youths who are going through hard life and those who are fighting discrimination, rejection, oppression, racism, poverty and slavery with righteousness. One way or another we are still experiencing the after-effects of slavery, so the video is a commentary on that oppression — a kind of history lesson for the youths,” said Safira Mono, whose real name is Shockera Pinnock.
The music video was shot and directed by Wayne Benjamin, with the script written by Safira Mono. The video was shot at the Cherry Gardens Great House.
The single was released under the Frassout Records imprint and has been available on iTunes since August 25.
“The video took almost four months to produce,” she said.
Safira Mono believes the legacy of slavery has translated into a crippling, modern-day poverty where generations of people find themselves trapped in a life without access to health and education resources and hence, doomed to relive the mistakes of their ancestors.
“For the Cruff Life music video, I wanted to go deeper than the urban poverty of zinc fences and ‘back-a-walls’ because cruff life did not start there. Why are we in the predicament that we are in today? Aren’t we free? No, because freedom is not money, it is not living pay cheque to pay cheque; it is not flossing, quick money and pretending a new reality because we have material things. We are still in slavery and that cruff life began in the slavery era,” she said .
She said the lure of celebrity and status is a weapon that creates a nation of “modern-day slaves”.
“They want us to be slaves to the idea of big houses, slaves to our cellphones, slaves to our jobs, all at the expense of our humanity. the only way to be free is through the pursuit of knowledge, and breaking the mental chains,” the artiste said.
Safira Mono, who is known for the hit single Monitor, recently performed at the Marcus Garvey celebrations in St Ann. She is a firebrand Rastafarian fighting for righteousness in a decadent time.
“The battle continues. we are not destined to be cruffs, don’t believe the lie. We have to accept the legacy and then with that acceptance, we can break the chains,” she said.