A ‘Fireside Chat’ from Fonzworth Bentley

The Atlanta native ended Black History Month on a strong note


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It’s been a hot minute since Atlanta native Fonzworth Bentley made it cool to work for Diddy. Now the longtime signee to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label is prepping his EP The Cool Outrageous Fingerprint to drop this summer while he patiently awaits the release of his debut LP C.O.L.O.R.S. The video he released last week for his song “Fireside Chat” is a bit of a departure for the style maven. Rather than shots of Mr. Bentley sporting fly duds, he presents a montage of images in an attempt to evoke more responsibility within hip-hop, according to Shaheem Reid of MTV.com, who talked to the Morehouse alum about the inspiration behind the spoken-word/rap:

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“I did this song for Black History Month and possibly for my EP,” Bentley explained. “Originally I wanted to put it out at the top of Black History Month. I was thinking through things. I was like, Black History Month — first of all, it’s the shortest month. Second of all, we’re gung-ho the first couple of weeks, then towards the end, you don’t hear nothing. Have you heard anything about Black History Month this week? Not at all. I just think that, ultimately for us, in this generation, it’s a time to really reflect and learn something new about yourself. I said if we could just do that, I think that you would be doing yourself a good service. If learn about yourself, you’re going to do what it is you’re supposed to do. You’ll understand you’re standing on the shoulders of somebody else.