Friendship Crumbles in Kemba’s “Caesar’s Rise” Video

Fresh off returning from his first ever national tour, the Bronx's own Kemba, formerly known as YC The Cynic, returns with an extra cinematic new visual for "Caesar's Rise," a powerful, Frank Drake-produced song from his Negus album. Watch it below.

The video, which was directed by Jonathon Salmon, finds a group of three friends roaming the block as they complete a day's worth of mischief. Everything's going fine until the seeds of greed and malicious intent take hold and their friendship dissolves within a matter of hours.

Featuring an insightful mix of intimate camera angles and powerful, lingering street imagery, the visual, which feels like a mix of Juice and maybe the video for 2Pac's "Ghetto Gospel," expertly frames a tale of betrayal with the solemnity that characterizes Kemba's "Caesar's Rise." Putting the visual together was no easy task.

"Jonathon Salmon reached out one day and wanted to work," Kemba tells XXL of how his new video came to be. "We spoke on the phone for hours about how to bring the song to life. He put in so much work. Over 100 hours. He created a story about greed and jealousy breaking up the closest of friends. We wanted something that matched the intensity of the song, and he did it perfectly."

Kemba, who's been cosigned by Kendrick Lamar and is currently working on his follow up to Negus, will be performing at Terminal 5 with Portugal. The Man next week (June 6-7), and will be performing at Red Hook Park June 24th with Denzel Curry. He's doing some big things.

Check out his new visual for "Caesar's Rise" below.

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