It was while Isaac and Horace were busy mixing one of the tracks – not their favorite audio chore – that Isaac – in an act of passive-aggressive rebellion – took up the producer’s laptop and began pilfering his Facebook page.
He laughed at the Republicans, then the Democrats. Cooed over a video of a cat lazing in a bucket of water. Then stopped. Clicked through on a story. Then another, and another, and… Horace made sighing noises, meant to draw Isaac back to the task at hand. It didn’t work.
He had found the story about Keith Lamont Scott, and the resulting furor in Charlotte, North Carolina (among other parts of the US).
The “home” frowns upon social media – and news coverage in general – citing legendary incidents of cafeteria violence that no-one can recall, so the brothers were unfamiliar with the previous police shootings. The producer, ripping the laptop from Isaac’s hands, summarized current public perceptions about police misconduct and “profiling”.
There was a moment of stillness in the room. Then Horace asked “And people are OK with this?”
To which the producer, trying to quell the entire topic and get them back to work, replied “I’m a people, and as long as I’ve got peace, I don’t give a s-. Stay off my bloody laptop. And get back to work. Please.”
The stillness took another moment. And then they went back to work.
The next day – to the producer’s fury – a new track was in the session list. He bellowed at no one in particular, banging his laptop on the desk. But he eventually indulged his curosity – it was an unheard track, after all.
And when the last waves ended – abruptly, as intended – his anger had vanished.
Later, when Isaac and Horace came in the studio, the track wasn’t mentioned. Not then, and not ever – To this day, it has yet to be discussed.
Samples are in the public domain. The primary vocals are extracts from this speech.
