Bryan Art “Knowledge is the Power” music video

Jamaican roots reggae artist Bryan Art is in the process of revamping his style out of Kingston under his own Junction Files recording label. His latest EP “Fresh Start” hit the market in June, containing a song that had originally been spotlighted the year before. Now re-released, Art’s “Knowledge is the Power” single boasts a hot-off-the-presses music video in order to hype the album. Bryan Art gained recognition throughout the mid-2000s for hit songs such as “Get It” and “Rock and Come In”, but it wasn’t until 2012 when Art took his musical career in a novel direction by opening Junction Files Muzik. Now backed by a group known as the File 13 Band for live performances, Bryan Art is taking his husky voice and soulful solo project to new heights.

The video, filmed in what appears to be a poverty-stricken urban suburb of Kingston, was produced and directed by Smike The Don. Ultimately, the theme of the video is a day in the life of the less fortunate – where privileged children are fed with wooden spoons, at best. Accentuated with lyrics like “things will be better” and “rise with the wind like a feather”, it’s easy for the viewer to anticipate the visual daily grind of a working-class teen to improve. After skimming a book on mechanics, the struggling teen is able to build a motorized vehicle for work to replace an exhausting wooden pushcart. Thus, the teen has built his own destiny and his standard of living has increased. Art’s overall message is that “knowledge is power” either via inspiration or by force, which is comically referenced in the line “slap him with a book”.

With positive subject matter and nowhere but up to go, Bryan Art is quickly becoming one of Jamaica’s most prized songwriters and reggae entrepreneurs.

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