The first single from Third Eye Bling’s debut LP coming soon on Fresh Chopped Beats / MADK Productions!
“Coffee & Sage”
Lyrics by Gabriel Teodros
Produced by Third Eye Bling
Mixed & Mastered by Vitamin D
Video, photographs and archival footage from Futsum Tsegai, Gabriel Teodros, Gord Hill, Third Eye Bling, http://Native-Land.ca (check the website and learn about the people of the land you are standing on), Calina Lawrence (ʔəshəliʔ ti txʷəlšucid: http://calinalawrence.com), Marcus Joe, Senait Habte, Asmeret Habte, Toni Hill, The Black Panther, Bri McDaniel, Storme Webber, and John with the # hethnic Black and Indigenous Solidarity shirts. Shoutout to Eighth Generation, Left Bank Books, The Station, El Centro de la Raza, Daybreak Star, Carolyn Downs Family Medical, and everyone who came together, built and fought for those places to exist. This whole video was an experiment in community-sourced filmmaking. Thank you to everyone who participated in any way.
“this is post-apocalyptic
our world has ended so many times
it keeps burning
we keep firefighting genocide
for 500+ years of a pandemic here
i’m realizing it’s a cycle and it’s very clear…”
These were lyrics written in the first year of COVID, after a summer where smoke was rising from protests on one side and wildfires on the other, and the need to remember the importance of Black and Indigenous solidarity had never seemed so clear. Rooted in multiple generations of experience, Teodros opens up on the history of how Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement were connected in the Northwest, and how that connection gave rise to institutions that still exist in Seattle today. As the son of an Ethiopian immigrant whose family directly benefits from this connection between Black and Indigenous communities in the Northwest, Teodros points to another way to connect in the chorus, through ceremony.
“you burn sage, we roast coffee
they both keep me calm”
It’s one of countless stories of Black & Indigenous co-resistance, and in the war of stories that we all participate in whether we know it or not, our memories are at stake, and every story of the ways we are connected have become that much more important.
“Coffee & Sage” was the last song Teodros recorded in his home studio in 2020, right before him and his spouse Ijeoma Oluo’s house burned down. After some significant rebuilding, this song is a preview of things to come both from producer Third Eye Bling’s debut album on Fresh Chopped Beats / MADK Productions, as well as a new independently released solo album from Gabriel Teodros titled From the Ashes of Our Homes.
http://www.gabrielteodros.com
Gabriel Teodros & Third Eye Bling “Coffee & Sage” (Official Video)
