I absolutely love the song “Aaja” by Swet Shop Boys. It’s from their debut studio album Cashmere, and is a hip hop track with a really cool Hindi verse by Ali Sethi. The music video transports me back to the 90s era of Indian pop music. The album itself peaked at number 45 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
The entire album is a commentary on the brown experience in the United States. The song T5 is about how Muslim, Sikh, and brown individuals are treated at the airport. The lyric such as below shows how brown individuals are often treated at TSA.
Oh no, we're in trouble TSA always wanna burst my bubble Always get a random check when I rock the stubble Terminal 5, Terminal One Think we're termites, wanna terminate us
The song Shottin highlights how, in the aftermath of 9/11, the police target, harass, and execute people they perceive to be Arabic or Muslim, even more than those engaging in criminal activity. This is because they associate all Arabic and Muslim people with terrorism. The song is important because it brings to light the systematic targeting of brown people in America.
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