Vid Vs. Vid: A.R.M. featuring Brother Ali
Ghana-to-Minnesota transplant M.anifest, Uganda-born Las Vegas MC Krukid, and Brooklyn producer Budo took to the streets of Minneapolis to shoot the video for "Heaven Only Knows," featuring Brother Ali (their album Uprising will follow later this fall). Their group name, A.R.M., which stands for African Rebel Movement or Artists Representing the Motherland, suggests that their rhymes are inspired by worldly experience, but no matter where they're from, the rappers' conversational delivery makes it easy to relate to the song's message of struggle, success, and the one constant overhead. In the other video, a YouTube user saw Jesus in the clouds above a Wal-Mart parking lot in Kentucky and set the photos to Al Green's "Jesus Is Waiting." So who does a better job of depicting what "heaven only knows?" (Brother Ali plays First Avenue when the Fresh Air Tour comes home Nov. 20-21.)