T-Pain’s latest musical project echoes the sentiments of many Black business owners that have looked to get the recognition they so deserve. The Grammy-award-winning artist teamed up with
Google and Youtube to make it easier for people to support the businesses they love and shop their values.
In his new song, featuring R&B sensation Normani, Black businesses are being spotlit in a shoppable film that allows watchers to immediately support them with a click of a button.
“I was thrilled when Google reached out about the second annual Black-owned Friday,” T-Pain said. “Last year, Google partnered with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. to reimagine Black Friday as ‘Black-owned Friday’ — a day to celebrate and support Black-owned businesses. This year, I’m proud to join Google and the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. for another year of encouraging shoppers to support of Black-owned businesses. And I was especially excited to write a new track to celebrate Black-owned businesses. We brought the track to life with a film directed by Daps, featuring me, Normani, Desi Banks, Tanerélle and actual business owners. The best part? The video is shoppable with more than 100 products from 50+ Black-owned businesses.”
This project speaks directly to some of the inequities that Black business owners face all the time.
Mckinsey reported that about 58 percent of Black-owned businesses were at risk of financial distress before the pandemic, compared with about 27 percent of white-owned businesses. The pandemic contributed to driving 41 percent of Black-owned US businesses from February to April 2020.
Normani acknowledged that Black businesses deserve more support, especially around this time of year.
“I was so honored to be a part of this because I’ve always known the importance of showing love to those who keep our communities thriving,” she told Essence. “And I couldn’t have chosen a better person than T-Pain to work with on such an incredible project.”
T-Pain shared with Essence that this recent partnership with Google is organic because he’s always championed the value of supporting Black businesses, even before it was trendy.
“I’ve done tons of interviews and talked about upping the support of Black entrepreneurs for years,” he said. “The clip would go semi viral and then it’ll just go away but, doing this project in this way and putting Google and Youtube behind it is incredibly impactful. I’m really proud.”
You can watch the film and shop the brands mentioned at g.co/blackownedfriday.