Yesterday afternoon, Bengali Hip Hop group – Bhanga Bangla – was busy shooting one of their next music videos when Los Angeles PD swarmed the area and shut it down.
Bhanga Bangla is well known for their shocking content in their music videos, however, the locals in the area seemed to have really taken their shock to an unprecedented level. Their debut music video – Matha Ta Fatabo – garnered over 2 million views on YouTube & on social media. The debut was followed by two more music videos in 2018, all of which enjoyed a level of ‘shock & awe’ in the Desi Hip Hop industry.
They had scheduled and rented a local public space to shoot their next music video, when the neighboring community noticed all the activity in the area. Seeing fake weapons and camera crews did not deter them from being afraid of these brown kids in the neighborhood, and what did they do next? They called the local law enforcement.
Of course – for police officers who rarely get to use their training, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to swarm the area with helicopters, SWAT teams, and the whole 9 yards.
“Officers see these rifles and we’re thinking it’s the real deal,” said LAPD Lt. Keith Green. “Based upon everything that’s occurred in the nation over the last week, we’re gonna take precautionary measures and treat this as though this is the actual, real situation.”
Bhanga Bangla’s 41X told CBSLA’s Tom Wait the weapons seen at the location were plastic.
“There was a camera clearly in view, I don’t know why they did this. This was unnecessary and just a waste of time.” – 41X, Bhanga Bangla
“Everything that they’re using, to my knowledge, is all props. They’re really good guys, they don’t have any criminal backgrounds or anything like that,” producer Peter Madana told CBS2 News.
Members of Bhanga Bangla’s team were well within their rights to shoot a music video. Yes, the fake guns made it very uncomfortable for others in the area. Yes, the timing was wrong. But, just because others were getting uncomfortable doesn’t warrant an arrest.
A warning is more than appropriate. Wasting the tax payer’s money to swarm an area with full blown assault teams and helicopters is a bit far fetched – especially for a filming city like Los Angeles.
Either way, this type of injustice will be dealt with the way that Desi brown people have always dealt with these types of things. The hard work will double, the goals and ambitions will be doubled up, and we will win at all costs. Period.
#FreeIvoryShakur