The color stands for diversity, the eight stands for infinity and the band stands for an end to police brutality in the United States.
The Color 8 plays a blend of different genres in their music like metal, jazz, funk and rap creating a concoction of sound that sways audiences from start to finish.
The Phoenix-based band released a new song titled “Blac Man” in February that delves into the experiences African Americans face on a daily basis with police officers.
The band utilized their unique sound throughout the song as the song begins with a small fill and then interludes into an anthem-like chant before flowing into a rap about police brutality.
“If you think about it, a lot of people that maybe like rap, they’ll hear some of our rap stuff and want to come see us, then we’ll play like a reggae or hip-hop song afterwards and then they’ll still be there and decide if they want to stay and watch us,” lead vocalist and saxophone player Ashton Vaughn “The Dapper Rapper” Charles said.
Drummer Emmett “E. Nash” Ray said that the song is meant to display the prevalence of police brutality and the timelessness of the topic.
“Blac Man can represent any minority, whoever feels oppressed or feels adversity,” Ray said. “It sounds crazy but people are really getting shot and killed at what was supposed to be a traffic stop.”
Hence why the band wanted to highlight the diversity aspect of their band with the song.
The band also released a video for the song which featured videos of Malcolm X giving speeches, protests by members of the Black Panther Party and violent moments from the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The video was shot in all black and white, blending the footage together.
“When we were making the video, we were thinking of what would go in the b-shots or the side shots, and we all agreed that (footage from the civil rights movement) would work best,” Ray said.
“We’re tired of seeing this stuff. It’s every other day we see something on the news, something on social media about racial injustice,” guitarist Mikal “Kal” Benion said. “I feel like the song is building up, like how people are building up, and eventually when something like this happens to people for a long, long time they eventually snap and its like a turning point.”
Like most of their music, there is a turning point in Blac Man. It comes toward the end where the song goes from anthemic to pure chaos signified by a slow metal-like breakdown.
“It’s like a slap in the face almost,” bassist Jeremiah Smith said about the rapidity of the change.
“Making it metal, making it hip-hop we can get to different audiences,” Benion Said. “If we have this platform, we should use this platform to get messages across and do more than just entertain.”
The video for the song has nearly 800 views on YouTube and the band has just over 7,000 listeners on Spotify.
“Art is power and this is art at its finest,” fan Marcus Montanez commented on the bands video.
The Color 8 can be seen every month downtown at First Friday and at other shows around the state.
Contact the reporter at asgalla1@asu.edu.
