advertisement
FYI

Prism Prize Video: Classified - Powerless

On May 13, the biggest prize for Canadian music videos will be handed out in Toronto. We are profiling some of the Top 20 nominees before that, including this clip from a platinum-selling hip-hop artist known for high-quality videos. 

Prism Prize Video:  Classified - Powerless

By External Source

On May 13, the biggest prize for Canadian music videos will be handed out in Toronto. We are profiling some of the Top 20 nominees before that, including this clip from a platinum-selling hip-hop artist known for high-quality video clips. Slaight Music is Patron Sponsor for the Prism Prize.


Classified - Powerless

“I hope somebody can hear me,” a sentiment that loops throughout “Powerless” by rapper, Classified. The song serves to act as a voice to children and women who have experienced abuse and was a response to the very passionate response he received from fans after a social media post of his addressed the rape of a young girl in Newfoundland.

advertisement

The video brings the song’s message to visual reality and from the opening shot (an elderly man tidies his disheveled shirt as a young, unclothed woman exits from the room behind him, he later re-attaches his clerical collar), you are immediately aware that Classified and director Andrew Hines don’t intend on tip-toeing around the subject.

While showing the various traumas that young women face, it also depicts the suffering of women in Indigenous communities, where there is a staggering number of women who are missing or being murdered.

To speak to this, the video was shot on Millbrook First Nation, a Mi’kmaq First Nations Group and features posters of real missing women in Canada.

Credits:

The video was directed by Grammy-nominated Canadian Andrew Hines.
It was shot on the Millbrook First Nation Reserve, which is a Mi’kmaq community located within Truro, Nova Scotia.

advertisement
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a meeting at the European Commission.
Wikimedia Commons

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a meeting at the European Commission.

Streaming

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew Requests 'Urgent' Meeting with Canadian Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly Amidst Shutdown Order

In a letter obtained by Billboard Canada, Chew writes that without government intervention, "TikTok will be forced to fire all of its Canadian employees.”

TikTok's global CEO is requesting an urgent meeting with government officials in advance of its ordered shutdown in Canada.

Following an order citing national security risks last November, the social media app is preparing to wind down its Canadian operations. While TikTok has vowed to fight the order, the clock is ticking. Last week, TikTok Canada halted its arts sponsorships throughout the country.

keep readingShow less
advertisement