mavi’s “for the love, of money” video is transfixing

Keep your eyes on MAVI. The 19-year-old Charlotte, N.C. rapper, born Omavi Minder, is carving out a niche for himself as one of rap’s premier up-and-coming lyricists. An Earl Sweatshirt associate, MAVI’s verses are dense, layered, and passionate musings on self and the world around him. His songs lend themselves to rewinding and replaying for context and comprehension at a time when a lot of other MCs bars are as forgettable as they are basic.

After a steady stream of loosies released on SoundCloud and the major streaming platforms MAVI has finally dropped a full project, Let The Sun Talk, a for sure candidate for album of the year if you’re like me and you like your lyrics pro-Black and clever and your loops warm and dusty in the best sense possible.

In our hyper-visual era, no music release is complete without a music video to go with it and MAVI chooses to feed ever-consuming rap community with a simple yet starkly beautiful video for “Love, of Money” that features MAVI in the foreground rapping to the camera while his friends fellowship in the background. His lyrics take center stage but zoom out and you’ll get the feeling that you’re witnessing Black brotherhood in action. It’s a good feeling and enticement to dig deeper into the music of this top prospect.