Express Yourself

What happens when 8 classically-trained musicians, 8 vocalists, 10 visual artists, and one rap artist come together? The answer is our latest music video, a cover of Jon Batiste & Stay Human’s “Express Yourself (Say Yes)”.

We filmed this video at the Epicenter of Artists for Humanity, a non-profit here in our hometown of Boston. Artists For Humanity’s (AFH) mission is to bridge economic, racial, and social divisions by providing under-resourced urban youth with the keys to self- sufficiency through paid employment in art and design. All of the visual art featured was created by AFH teens.

We also welcomed back Lotus Taylor, who appeared in our “See You Again” video, filmed back in 2015. Lotus, who is an alum of The Hip-Hop Transformation in Cambridge, MA, wrote his own lyrics for this video.

Our arrangement of “Express Yourself” was created by Evan Chapman. The original tune was created by Jon Batiste & Stay Human. You may recognize Jon Batiste’s name; he is the bandleader for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Jon, and Ibanda Ruhumbika, another member of the band, are both From the Top alumni.

The video was directed by Dillon Buss.

For the full list of production credits, watch the video over on YouTube. And remember, we release a new video every Thursday (ok, we occasionally skip a week, but it’s almost every week), so we hope you’ll subscribe to our channel.