Cocoa Sarai Delivers A Call To Action Against Police Brutality With New Single 'Strange Fame'

Grammy award winning singer-songwriter Cocoa Sarai releases the single and self-directed video for 'Strange Fame', a track that was created in response to the police brutality her brother faced in New York.

Following George Floyd's death, Cocoa's brother's assault was caught on live video by bystanders. Cocoa watched in disbelief, and hence the track and video were born...

"Strange Fame is more than political; for me, it's personal. I know what it's like to watch a video of an assault on a family member, holding your breath, just praying the outcome isn't fatal. I didn't want to have to write this song. This music video was hard to conceptualize and be the subject in, because of how close the topic is to my real life.

It was hard to ask my friends to be in it knowing we were all protesting in real life and feeling every ounce of anxiety, frustration, anger, and emotional exhaustion. I hate that this topic is still relevant but it is. Because "Art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable," I did it anyway. Because I have a responsibility to tell my story from my perspective with respect to the many victims of police brutality, including my brother...I did it anyway. This is not another protest song, it's a call to action!" - Cocoa Sarai

"Earn Yo Sleep" is the motto Cocoa Sarai lives by. Raised in a musical family in Brooklyn, she has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists and producers, including Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes, and many more. She even lent her songwriting skills to Academy Award-winning director Lee Daniels and has been performing since the age of two. Citing Mary J Blige, Tina Turner, and Lauryn Hill as her biggest influences, inspired by her West Indian heritage, her church roots, and her love of hip-hop, this Brooklyn, NY-bred, Jamaican-American songstress with three independent albums under her belt is establishing herself as a creative force that cannot be ignored.

Cocoa contributed to 8 of the 14 songs found on Anderson .Paak's 2018 album Oxnard and even dropped a rap verse on the Dr. Dre featured "Mansa Musa". She also provided her vocals and pen on .Paak's latest album Ventura, which won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Cocoa Sarai not only writes and sings, but also directs her own music videos. She prides herself on the intentionality of her visuals, having co-directed videos for her hit singles "Coffee in the Morning" -- which won "Outstanding Music Video" at the Micheaux Film Festival -- "Big Dummy" and "Strange Fame". Controlling her narrative is important to Cocoa, which is why she's happy to spend hours in the edit bay making decisions on every aspect, right down to the coloring.

Currently splitting her time between songwriting and finishing her upcoming project, Cocoa Sarai is here to stay.