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Music

Mzwètwo's New Song About Freedom Began in US Detention

The New Zealand musician on travelling as a black man in the time of Trump.
Image by Gabriela Choi. 

In the Trump era, where controversial travel bans have become a reality, approaching the US customs desk can be a daunting experience—particularly, says New Zealand artist Mzwètwo, as a black man. On his first visit to the US at the end of last year, Mzwètwo was interrogated for hours, denied entry to the country and spent a night in a Hawaiian immigration detention centre. There he met his cellmate Nelson, one of the many faces behind the statistics of detainees refused the right to bail.

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Mzwètwo came to New Zealand as a refugee from Zimbabwe aged six, so he's no stranger to an immigration office. While his US ordeal was over relatively quickly and he was put on a flight back to New Zealand the following morning, Nelson wasn’t so lucky. Mzwètwo's cellmate has spent more than a year in detention and is not due for release until January 2018. Mzwètwo wanted to share the experience in the best way he knows how—through his music. I Just Want to Ball, the latest release from his Black Boys Don’t Cry EP, and tells of prejudice, freedom and love.

VICE: Hey Mzwètwo. Can you talk me through what happened when you landed in the States?
Mzwètwo: I caught a flight to LA via Hawaii to see my label. I had a weird feeling on my way there, something in me was telling me not to expect anything. When going through Customs, the officer takes my passport and goes “Oh your ESTA didn’t clear”. He says it in a way where he doesn’t give any space to debate it. By the time I realised what’s going on I’m in the interrogation room.

Was there anything wrong with your ESTA visa?
No. The thing with the ESTA is that you can’t even get onto a flight without it clearing. It wasn’t even a true thing that it didn’t clear. It did clear.

What went down in the interrogation room?
A lady officer called my name and then shouts “what are you doing here in the United States of America?” At this point I’m like “woah”, I’m shaking. I tell her that I’m coming to meet my team. She asks if I have earned any money and I tell her no but try and explain my advance. She calls her boss over and they check my bags. By this time it was obvious that I wasn’t going to catch my next flight.

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"The officer told me not to worry because it’s not a real prison. I don’t know what other prisons there are but from my knowledge, from Google images and movies, it looked exactly like a real prison."

At what point did they take you to the detention centre?
After many hours the boss asked me the same questions as the lady officer. Then he said “As a United States Officer I now deny you entry into the USA”. He handcuffed me and said, “The prison is this way”. I got patted down, my belongings were taken off me and I’m put into this van. I arrive at the prison, give my fingerprints and change clothes. The officer told me not to worry because it’s not a real prison. I don’t know what other prisons there are but from my knowledge, from Google images and movies, it looked exactly like a real prison.

What was your cellmate Nelson like?
Out of the whole experience Nelson was the one who showed me the most love. When it was lockdown we start talking. I rapped for him. He showed me pictures of his wife and and seven-year-old daughter. He hadn’t seen them in a while. He told me he is getting released in January 2018 so he will still be there now. There was this guy next to us singing real loud, Nelson told me that guy had been there for two years just waiting for a trial.

When did you decide to write the song I Just Want to Ball ?
When Nelson told me about his family, it put everything into perspective for me. In that moment I began to think about what a privilege it is to tell the people you love that you love them. I was writing everything I was thinking in my diary. At that point I wrote a poem that went: ‘I could be many things but I just want to be, I could have many things but I just want to be free’. It wasn’t until I was back in New Zealand that I took this poem and my feelings and made it into the song.

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"I was thinking a lot about stereotypes and the impact of the colour of my skin."

Was it hard to return to New Zealand, after quitting your job and telling everyone you would be gone for three months?
I knew that getting back would be the hard part. I went through a deep depression and all that. When I was coming out of that, that’s when I finished this song. I was thinking about my time with Nelson. I was thinking a lot about stereotypes and the impact of the colour of my skin—and how it can land me in a situation like the one I was in.

The song speaks about freedom in a variety of ways, what do you think freedom means to you now?
I learnt that freedom from embarrassment is a huge thing. The officers that were collecting me to go back to the airport were really rough with me for no reason. They took me out in handcuffs past all these people and I was really embarrassed for a long time. But I decided I don’t want to be embarrassed anymore. I shouldn’t walk around with a complex and be limited by someone else’s perspective of me.

Is that where the name for the EP, Black Boys Don’t Cry, came from?
The name was inspired by women’s ability to embrace their emotions and complexities. They can be emotional and they can be strong and they’re taught this from a young age. We as guys are not encouraged to speak about our emotions as much. Our culture forces the black boys to be tough because of the things we have to experience. In a lot of ways we begin life swimming upstream.

Your O1 Visa has recently been approved, are you nervous to go back to the States?
I’m not nervous to go back. I don’t have any emotional feelings towards America. I just have to go there to chase opportunity. It’s a weird country but it is what it is. If I had never had that initial experience I would never have learnt what I did about freedom and those I love. Although my time in the prison was short, I’m thankful to have learnt those lessons.

Find Mzwètwo's 'I Just Want to Ball' on Spotify and iTunes.

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