“This video represents the struggle of disadvantaged Black youth in the UK,” reads the description of Burna Boy’s new music video, Real Life, taken from his recently released fifth studio album, Twice as tall. “The blurred lines between the road life and real life. The fragility between life and death; and how knife crime/murder often reported like a mere statistic in the media, has longstanding effects on a community.”
Featuring Stormzy, the music video, directed by Meji Aladi, shows a tragic reality that many Black people in the United Kingdom must endure: dying at a young age due to criminality and marginalisation. The feeling of loss, grievance, pain and sorrow one one leaves behind a family, a group of friends, a community that loves him/her/them.
