The Boy Illinois Spotlights Black Plight in "PTSD" Video

The Boy Illinois delivers a video with a message. A few weeks back, the Illinois-bred rapper unloaded a powerful new audio-visual by the name of "PTSD (Post Traumatic Slave Disorder)," a potent piece that tackles the collective effects of systemic racism.

With its black and white coloring, "PTSD," which was directed DGainz, begins with a spoken word poem from J. Ivy and shots of folks in various states of existence. In one scene, we see an image of what appears to be a homeless man. The next, we see a senior citizen sitting on her porch as she speaks to the camera. Then, we're taken to The Boy Illinois, who begins spitting about the pain internalized by slave descendants.

"Way before Trump won the election, the whole hood suffer from depression/I never take my blessing as a blessing/Because the whole hood suffer from depression," spits Illinois, who says he plans to drop three albums this year.

From there, Illinois gets more and more specific as he details the strife of life on the block. There are bars about EBT cards and there are also lines about Illinois' own unwillingness to stray from petty flexes and fight the perceived powers that be. There's a lot to unpack, but we'll let you handle that for yourself.

You can check out "PTSD" below. Peep his video for "Othello" when you're done.

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