“America The Merciful” Music Video Premiere
7/4/21 — On this Fourth of July, we release the first music video from "Tlaxihuiqui" -- the philosophical ballad "America The Merciful" from Dane "Zealot" Newton featuring Uno. The video asks important questions that these artists - who are both incarcerated - share through lyric and handwritten letter. Directed in fine detail by Shaina Nasrin over the last several months, we read Dane's words as they roam throughout the song: "what is redemption?," and "can [it] exist without a redeemer?"; while the complimentary hip hop verses from Uno leave us with a message of action: "Society is blind in every way / guess it's time for me to come wake it up."
Due to both artist's current incarceration, Nasrin worked with a wide array of assets to make the visuals come to life: prison video visits, drawings from Territorial artist E. Brokencoyote, and ambient/Americana footage from filmmaker Britni West. Zealot's two brothers, Michael Banner and Deondre Johnson, also appear throughout, holding photos of Dane prior to his incarceration. Both brothers spent over a decade in prison as well and were recently released. Many of the photos they hold were recently rediscovered after the passing of their mom, Ms. Dorothy Ann Gipson, who this video is in honor of.
We hope you enjoy this new work and have a great day with friends and family.
Territorial: Zealot ft. Uno
"America The Merciful" (Official Music Video)
Directed & Edited by Shaina Nasrin
Creative Consultant: Dane "Zealot" Newton
Footage by Shaina Nasrin & Britni West
Third party footage is royalty free.
Calligraphy & Artwork by E. Brokencoyote
Animations by Olivia Ripke & Emily Sasmor
Ms. Dorothy tribute by Joe Williams
Produced by Fury Young
Thank you to Deondre Johnson and Michael Banner
In Honor of Dorothy Ann Gipson
Pre-order Territorial "Tlaxihuiqui."
P.S. Trivia: to our knowledge this is the first song ever widely released and professionally recorded which features two incarcerated artists in two different states (Colorado and South Carolina).
