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Music

Orlando Jones Made a Song Called “Thug Music Vol. 1—Play At Maximum Volume” and Here's The Video For It

Jones, who has adopted the pseudonym GSR, is trying to use music to create a dialogue inspired by recent events including the Michael Dunn/Jordan Davis trial, Trayvon Martin's death, and more.

Orlando Jones has actually done it all—you'll remember him as a 7 Up spokesperson, his role on MADtv, Sound FX, The Sinbad Show, A Different World, Roc, The Bernie Mac Show… the list literally goes on. Today, he ventures into the music world

His song, "Thug Music Vol. 1—Play At A Maximum Volume" is not some struggle rap song from an actor turned musician. Jones, who has adopted the pseudonym GSR, is trying to use music to create a dialogue inspired by recent events including the Michael Dunn/Jordan Davis trial, Trayvon Martin's death, and more.

Orlando says he's a big fan of the Apple "Think Different" slogan, you know, the "Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels…"

“To this I say, I wonder where Jordan Davis fits into this conceit. Would he have been “crazy enough” to change the world? Or Trayvon Martin-could he have been part of the movement to “push the human race forward?" he said in an email. "Sadly, we’ll never know what might have come from their unrealized potential, not to mention the countless other fallen brothers and sisters whose lives were cut down too soon and for whom justice was not served. What of Renisha McBride and Rekia Boyd? Emmett Till and Medgar Evers? Aiyana Jones and Latasha Harlins.”

“These individuals changed things. They put a face on the legacy of 'Unforgivable Blackness.' Contrary to the spirit of Steve Job’s words we continue to ignore them and those like them. You and I see them every day; boys and girls, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. People whose humanity and agency is denied in life and whose memory is tarnished in death to serve a media narrative that their fate might not have befallen them if only they minimized their otherness and didn’t appear “too threatening."

The track features some backing vocals from Lee Anna James and a verse from Chrome. Watch the powerful video above.