Hip-Hop Media Training

Candice Anitra Remembers Haiti With Funk-Laden Dance Track

By | Hip-Hop Media Training – Thu, Jan 26, 2012 5:32 PM EST

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Candice AnitraI guess nobody told Candice Anitra that all tribute songs are supposed to sound alike — slow moving anthemic power ballads that you never want to hear more than once.

Good for her. Her song "Today," which remembers Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake on its second anniversary, is a funk-laden dance track that evokes more hope than despair.

Support Haiti By Purchasing Candice Anitra's "Today"

Her lyrics address the concerns of the Haitian people as she sings about the quake ("the way it shook this place …") and urges listeners to help ("Today we need your pearls.").

The video is intermixed with performance shots of Anitra and poignant images from the aftermath published in the 2010 Harper's photo essay "Exodus" by Nadia Shira Cohen.

It's fascinating the way editors Karim Lopez and Simon Doolittle use special effects to add motion to the images.

Proceeds from the sale of the song benefit the people of Haiti via Partners in Health's 320-bed Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital and the Global Syndicate's "Shine a Light" campaign.

The song is from the Philly born, Brooklyn-based singer's forthcoming album, "Big Tree," due out on March 28.

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