Cha Wa, the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian funk outfit and former OffBeat cover star, is back with a new video for an older jam. 

The group is revisiting its track “Visible Means of Support” off of 2018’s Grammy-nominated album Spyboy with some added rap bars and a fresh remix by 90s hip-hop engineer and producer, Bassy Bob Brockmann. Named the “No Justice, No Peace” remix, the sound may be different but the message of Black Lives Matter is the same.  

Cha Wa’s trombonist, Joseph Maize Jr., and Mardi Gras Indian vocalist Joseph Boudreaux Jr. (son of Monk Boudreaux and Second Chief of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians) have spiced up the remix with a rap they developed while performing the song in concert. Built upon personal experiences, Monk was no stranger to casual cruelty at the hands of police as a young man during 1950s Jim Crow-era New Orleans. He sings,  “Pay the fine or do the time…Twenty dollars or twenty days in jail just because of the color of my skin.” 

The song is a mezcla of various styles. Alongside hip-hop bars, Monk’s vocal performance demonstrates the “testifying” style of singing that has earned him a reputation as a modern-day shaman.

The hook combines French Creole and Native American Patois “code words” that are a trademark of Mardi Gras Indian music. Inspired by the global protests against police brutality caused by the murder of George Floyd, Cha Wa utilizes the call and response mode the band performs in concert, encouraging the audience to chant along “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter.”

New Orleans-based director Jonathan Isaac Jackson portrays the members of the band participating in BLM protests in their community along with studio footage of Monk Boudreaux. 

For more Cha Wa, check out OffBeat’s “In the Pink” session with the Grammy nominees.

Follow Cha Wa @ChaWaBand (Twitter) & @chawaband (Instagram)