A closer look at the symbolism behind Serious Klein’s new video ‘Coochie Money’
German / Ghanian MC Serious Klein (AKA Kelvin Boakye) is turning heads with his latest bars. Winning praise for his 2016 EP ‘Summer 03’s Problem’, plaudits from Alicia Keys, and a recent appearance with COLORS, his new single ‘Coochie Money’ on name alone [a term describing transactional sex] can easily be dismissed as sordid and unsavory.
Instead, Klein’s brazen breakbeats and 3-minute visual, against a rework of N.O.R.E’s 2002 anthem ‘Nothin’, explore brotherhood and false idolism; a mature take on growing up at the crossroads between sex & drugs, faith, gang culture, and friendship. We take a closer look at the symbolism behind Klein’s new video ‘Coochie Money’; exploring why and how the 25-year-old is making waves as part of Germany’s underground hip hop movement.
Serious Klein - Coochie Money (Official Video)
‘Coochie Money’ opens with a church congregation, their prayers cut against red flares and screeching motorbikes. With a stained-glass window, neon crucifix, and basketball court the backdrop to Klein’s bars, director Dominik Wieschermann’s 3 minute visual reflects the contradictory influences of Klein’s early adulthood. Notably, Klein’s pastor-like image, a role model in a position of community influence, interspersed with images of disorder and a basketball court is clever: the latter, both a place of sanctuary for young black men and a potential arena for gang life.
Klein’s previous work, such as his 2014 track ‘The Seed (A thought’s slave)’, also plays with the concept of light versus dark. A thread continued in ‘Coochie Money’, the words: “If ballots won't work bullets will, word to Malcolm nigga…” refer to Malcolm X: one of the most polarizing figures in human rights activism in the 1950s-60s. From his imprisonment, found faith, pilgrimage, and assassination, Klein’s lyric points again to life choice and the conflict between protest and violence in driving change-offering the option to look to history for guidance; less reliant on the immediate influence of false idols on the streets.
“If ballots won’t work bullets will, word to Malcolm nigga; So what do you stand for?
Is it fast money? Pussy? Weed? Gold wrists, woman or cars? Are you the remedy?”
In the track’s close, Klein’s gospel twist continues. As with the trap vibes and choir sound finale of his 2018 Single ‘91 flex’, ‘Coochie Money’ sees Klein refer to his squad: the 555 (five fifty five). Why the five fifty five? A reference to John’s Gospel (15:3): ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’, Klein’s final nod to the value of loyalty and brotherhood proves the old adage: where books aren’t to be judged by their cover, music is to be judged by its content: not its title.
Serious Klein’s new single ‘Coochie Money’ is out now on Majestic Casual Records.