buka

@TouchlineX Sincerely, shut the fuck up.

Michael Jackson had to cut a deal with a drug lord to film this video. The Brazilian government tried to block the shoot. A judge banned the filming. The police refused to enter the area. Rio was bidding to host the 2004 Olympics and didn't want the world seeing footage of its poorest neighborhoods. So Spike Lee walked into the favela (Rio's version of a hillside slum) and found the local crime boss. His name was Marcinho VP. He ran one of the city's biggest gangs, Comando Vermelho. He also happened to be a huge Jackson fan, and he provided the whole production with security for free. A higher court eventually overturned the ban. The police still wouldn't go in. So 1,500 police officers and 50 residents acting as security guards sealed off the favela. Jackson arrived by helicopter. He walked the streets handing out candy to the kids. The people who lived there had woken up early that morning to sweep the streets and take out the trash before he got there. Mid-shoot, two women burst through security. One knocked Jackson flat. Spike Lee helped him up and he kept dancing. That exact take is in the final video. For the Salvador half of the shoot, he worked with 200 drummers from a local group called Olodum. The media coverage put them on the map in 140 countries. They'd been a regional act before the shoot. They became a global one after. Over 200 million people watched the premiere around the world. The song itself peaked at #30 in America. In Germany it went to #1 and stayed on the chart for 30 weeks, the longest run of any Jackson song there. The video crossed 1 billion views on YouTube in 2023. Only one other Jackson video has done that: Billie Jean. He's the first solo male singer from the 1900s with two videos over a billion. The day after Jackson died in 2009, Rio's mayor announced they'd put a statue of him in the same favela where the video was shot. Locals said the turnaround of their neighborhood started with his visit.

Let the Orïsha Era begin ✨ #ChildrenOfBloodAndBone #CinemaCon