The spoken record

THE TAPE

what I said, when I said it, with the receipt.

The archive is the argument.

Passages on the record
58
Reels
4
Spoken
Spring 2021 → Summer 2022

The question

  1. VERDICT
    00:08:41    …am I really free in this country when I can't even go to a football match and celebrate my team winning? Is that freedom?
  2. SOVEREIGN
    00:00:50    I mean, it feels like freedom. But then I'm like, am I really free?
  3. SOVEREIGN
    00:01:26    Am I really free?
  4. SOVEREIGN
    00:43:52    But now I'm free. But am I really free?

four utterances · two occasions · one voice

ReelLondon43m 22s · two angles2 voices19 on the record

DOCTRINE

The interview (April 2021)

A frame of JJ from reel DOCTRINE

Yo, it's your boy JJ. This is my first ever YouTube video.

Epigraph00:00:00JJ

Spring 2021, a flat in London: two cameras, a PlayStation on the table as bait for subscribers, and the first video I ever made. The questions were about race, faith, money and clothes. The answers turned out to be the doctrine the rest of this archive runs on, including the Bill Gates argument before it had a name. Only my side of the conversation is on the record here.

  1. Tape 005I know it's racist00:02:35I don't think it's racist.
  2. Tape 006Grenfell00:04:16Like,
  3. Tape 007What white identity?00:31:16What white identity? Like,
  4. Tape 008Humble00:41:05One thing I find interesting is that people
  5. Tape 015Paid for their own freedom00:03:21My honest opinion is that the UK government,
  6. Tape 016The math is not mathing00:06:19Are you not embarrassed?
  7. Tape 017The guy running the country00:07:27Do you really want to hear? Yeah,
  8. Tape 018My God is not whitewashed00:09:44I believe in God.
  9. Tape 019What does your impact look like?00:13:21So I mean, racism in itself is inherently problematic.
  10. Tape 020Your mind is colonised00:18:10And I feel like we need to clarify to people that when
  11. Tape 021Slavery is alive and active00:20:47The scary thing is some black people think
  12. Tape 022You can't win00:22:36But you know, what people don't realize is that even in
  13. Tape 023Black women have been missing00:27:18Where you at, though?
  14. Tape 024Robbed from knowing that side of me00:32:32Growing up in Europe and all over Europe,
  15. Tape 025That blood running through me00:33:41You're very, like,
  16. Tape 026You're complicit00:34:42By the way,
  17. Tape 027Google is free00:37:09Then Google is free.
  18. Tape 028That's not a contradiction00:38:24It's. It's actually, it's funny that you mentioned because people
  19. Tape 029Are we being silenced?00:42:09Literally.

ReceiptFireflies transcript · FCP captions, the cut and the extended cut · DOCTRINE master index v1.1

ReelLondon1h 20m 37s raw3 voices10 on the record

INHERITANCE

Green Passport Podcast (guest)

A frame of JJ from reel INHERITANCE

My dad is from Ghana and my mom's from Norway.

Epigraph00:22:59JJ

Spring 2021, my flat in Stratford, filmed over two takes on a weekend. I was a guest on the Green Passport podcast, with the host and my flatmate on the sofa beside me. The subject was interracial dating and mixed children, which meant the subject was me. Only my side of the conversation is on the record here.

  1. Tape 001Hybrid, not product00:06:50I mean, I would like to think I'm like a human being, but I mean, a
  2. Tape 002The middle of all of this madness00:08:44Ok, let me land.
  3. Tape 003I love you regardless00:25:50So obviously my mom is white.
  4. Tape 004House and field01:16:17I look at like what happened during like slavery,
  5. Tape 030On this journey together00:24:14That's — that's an interesting question.
  6. Tape 031Eurocentric in all its ways00:27:14We were living in Norway, which is where I'm from. Norway, she's from Norway.
  7. Tape 032The child is the victim00:40:00And the thing is, like, I don't agree with that.
  8. Tape 033You grow out of trauma00:47:09No, no. But let me land. Because it can be very understandable. Because think about it.
  9. Tape 034Accept the truth00:56:08Sometimes people just need to accept the truth.
  10. Tape 035Light skin is not a personality01:14:48But you know what?

NoteThe handle JJDREAMSS is spelled out on tape at 01:19:39.

ReceiptFireflies transcript · FCP captions, both takes · INHERITANCE master index v1.1

ReelLondon · Olympic Park, East LDNtwo shoot days + the cut1 voice23 on the record

VERDICT

UK Is NOT Innocent

A frame of JJ from reel VERDICT

I'm just gonna speak freely.

Epigraph00:00:40JJ

Autumn 2021, alone, to camera, in 4K. Two days of filming: the takes from the first sat in a folder called DELETED until this year, and the second became the cut I put on YouTube — which opens on a clip from day one. This is where the film’s question is asked out loud for the first time on the record.

  1. Tape 009No amount of money00:00:10One thing I just want to address is the fact that people
  2. Tape 010You know what you know00:36:52One thing I do want to say is that me, personally,
  3. Tape 011Am I really free?00:07:56When I go to celebrate my team winning
  4. Tape 012Reclaim my own story00:24:43To anyone that's actually taken
  5. Tape 036I'm gonna admit that00:03:06I honestly don't think what I'm wearing is a contradiction
  6. Tape 037I can't win00:06:02I really don't see the correlation.
  7. Tape 038A reality that I've learned to accept00:19:03One thing that I thought about is the fact
  8. Tape 039That came at a cost00:40:10Like I said earlier, the problem is systemic racism. It's
  9. Tape 040Dear white people00:41:56Side note,
  10. Tape 041Okay, then I landed00:52:06And to those of you that maybe
  11. Tape 042Stop seeking validation from our oppressor00:57:16So to anyone out there that's ever been silenced
  12. Tape 043Born into a racist family01:04:12Being mixed, I've been in a lot of
  13. Tape 044The whitewashed face01:06:32Especially when I lived in Norway, which is a predominantly white
  14. Tape 045Symptom and sickness00:06:40I have come to realize that situation is not about me
  15. Tape 046Racial abuse is still abuse00:10:39And the mad thing is that people
  16. Tape 047Go to a black psychologist00:11:46And if you do decide to go to, like, a psychologist or whatever,
  17. Tape 048POC unity00:12:52I'm gonna speak freely on this because black people
  18. Tape 049Divide and conquer00:14:21And for those of you that don't know what colorism is, it's favouritism
  19. Tape 050Here's a gift00:15:56Up until 2015,
  20. Tape 051I do not see the correlation00:17:36I've also noticed that people
  21. Tape 052That literally proves that it's guilty00:20:33All of these different things that we experience
  22. Tape 053Your Prime Minister, not mine00:21:53Even if we look at like the people running the country,
  23. Tape 054A question you should already know the answer to00:24:28Like, literally,

ReceiptFireflies transcripts, day one and the cut · FCP captions · VERDICT master index v1.1

ReelLondon · Westfield Stratford City~45m2 voices6 on the record

SOVEREIGN

In conversation with Kwajo Tweneboa

A frame of JJ from reel SOVEREIGN

Filming me, but then sometimes filming yourself.

Epigraph00:00:27JJ

Summer 2022, Westfield Stratford City. Kwajo held the camera, and I spent the first minute directing him to film himself as well as me. The film’s question comes up three times in this one afternoon, in the same voice it was asked in the year before. Only my side of the conversation is on the record here.

  1. Tape 013It feels like freedom00:00:50I mean, it feels like freedom. But
  2. Tape 014But am I really free?00:43:52But now I'm free.
  3. Tape 055People that will wait for you00:18:03But one thing that kept me going was I have friends on
  4. Tape 056Your voice still counts00:19:49Because in life, like, sometimes we lose our voice and
  5. Tape 057In the darkness, I found a key00:34:30And I would
  6. Tape 058Heed my warning00:44:14Take care of your loved ones honestly

ReceiptFireflies transcript · FCP captions · SOVEREIGN master index v1.1

THE FILM · A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AM I REALLY FREE? decoding FREEDOM itself Enter the question