Whose war are you fighting? In the new video for T.I.'s "G Shit," he and Jeezy take it all the way back to the 1960s to remind us that time is a flat circle, and all wars end in funerals. Foregoing the usual trappings of a rap video, the Atlantans enlisted director Chris Robinson to make a stunning 12-minute period piece.

Jeezy and Tip play men of good repute, but poor standing with the law. They are the proprietors of (and, during the portion of the video dedicated to "G Shit," performers at) a jazz club. Of course, this doubles as the front for what is presumably an alcohol smuggling ring. At one point, a lily-white band of police officers crowds the back of the club, then are taken back to the kitchen to receive the hush money they take for turning a blind eye. Once alone, the lead officer demands more money than usual. Jeezy's character almost comes to blows with him; T.I.'s diffuses the situation.

Later that evening, Tip's younger friend--the one whom he and his partner had previously admonished for wanting to join the war in Vietnam--is closing up, when the cops come back and brutally murder him. Shortly after, at his funeral, Tip and his friend (played by The Wire's Wood Harris) step outside to consider what has to be done. The flashbacks are vivid--"What a Black man look like going over, fighting someone else's war?--and the two know what has to be done. This is their war.

Catch some behind-the-scenes footage below. Paperwork is out now.

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