“I would hope that it would serve as a balm, as something that can soothe the wounds that we all feel in this world as a result of these murders,” Drea d’Nur told “We Real Chicago” host Rome J. about her new album THIS LOVE THING, which she made in collaboration with fellow artist and activist Rami Nashashibi.
The pair sat down with Rome J. to discuss the social-justice themed project. They made it after the 2020 police killings of unarmed Black people, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The first single off THIS LOVE THING is titled “Mama Please,” the last words Floyd said before his death. d’Nur and Nashashibi use Floyd’s words in the hook.
In speaking about the song, d’Nur said, “It was a way to really offer some healing and some perspective on what it meant when he cried or lamented ‘mama please’.”
The song is also dedicated to Cariol Horne, the former Buffalo, NY police officer who was fired in 2008 for saving a man from being choked by a fellow officer during an arrest. d’Nur is Buffalo, and shared Horne’s story with Nashashibi, who is the founder of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). The organization reached out to a Chicago law firm to help Horne fight to get her job back in court.
“So many of us here in Chicago have been involved in so many conversations of police accountability for the past 20 plus years,” Nashashibi explained, “and Cariol Horne represents kind of a breath of fresh air. A woman who served as a police officer did the right thing.”
After that conversation, Rome J. chatted with comedian and TV critic Ashley Ray about HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and her favorite spooky movies — just in time for Halloween.
While not uncritical of “Lovecraft Country,” Ashley told Rome J., “It is truly something we’ve never seen on TV before. There are moments and stories being told we really haven’t seen before, and for that I love it.”
To find out more about THIS LOVE THING, as well as Ashley’s take on “Lovecraft Country” and the best spooky movies to watch for Halloween, check out “We Real Chicago” on TRiiBE TV.