Finale - The Senator (Video)

Detroit emcee Finale has drawn inspiration from another rust belt city for his newest video, "The Senator," from his spring-released, highly acclaimed A Pipe Dream And A Promise. Both the song and video are based largely on David Simon and HBO's Baltimore epic The Wire. The Senator in question is State Senator Clay Davis, not one of the show's main characters but certainly one of its most fascinating and divisive. Davis is an exploitative figure that acts as an intermediary between drug dealers and real estate developers, pocketing cash from both sides all the while. Finale uses Davis as a means of getting the point of the song across: calling out liars who are fronting as something they aren't. The song opens with the line "I heard a lot of y'all talkin' / A lot of you not walkin'." Finale even manages to make Davis' trademark exclamation "sheeeeeiiiiittttt" a centerpiece of the song's chorus. The video seamlessly blends Finale's Detroit with The Wire's Baltimore and employs key scenes and lines from the show to carry across Finale's punchlines.

The track, from Finale's debut A Pipe Dream And A Promise, features production by Waajeed. Finale pulls off an impressive tightrope walk in the song's lyrics. "The Senator" serves as a powerful call-out to those fronting as something they're not while incorporating the themes and action of the world of The Wire.
Finale couples a smooth flow with impressively dense lyricism that will have the listener appreciating a new line with each progressive listen.


Warning! This video should come with a spoiler alert. If you haven't seen the entirety of The Wire and plan to watch it some day, DO NOT watch the video. It contains key plot moments and spoilers.