Big Boi has dug into the vault to release a never-before-seen music video for 2012’s “Tremendous Damage.” Motivated by the death of his father Tony Kearse, the song features Bosko and comes from his Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors album.
In an interview with Complex, the Outkast MC explained how the current pandemic led to its release.
“So I was in the vault just looking around,” he said. “I shot ‘Tremendous Damage’ years ago, and I never released it. (…) It’s called ‘Tremendous Damage,’ and right now the world is experiencing tremendous damage. I just wanted to speak to my people.”
I went into my vault and pulled out this unreleased video from “Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.” It seemed appropriate to speak to my people. Video shot by Trevor Kane & Big Boi featuring Bosko
RIP to my Father, “Chico Dusty”@Bigboi X @SleepyBrown Album ” is complete ! Soon pic.twitter.com/57b8FybE8P— Big Boi (@BigBoi) May 22, 2020
“Tremendous Damage” is as much a timely message as it is an ode to his father.
“The song spoke to me because there’s a lot of people out here that are losing loved ones, and the song’s about somebody who lost somebody,” he said. “It’s dedicated to my father.”
Throughout the track, Big Boi raps about the passing of his father, whose nickname Chico Dusty inspired the title for the 2010 album Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty.
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The visual itself includes photos of a young Kearse from his time in the military. When asked if any changes had to be made to the video, Big Boi ended up describing the man his father was.
“We added some things to it like certain effects and more historic pictures of my dad when he was in the military,” he said. “He was in the Marines and he was in the Air Force, as well. The guy was a genius. He fought in Beirut and Vietnam. It was my way of honoring him. He was a bad, bad man.”
Big Boi is currently preparing to release a collaborative project with Sleepy Brown titled The Big Sleepover. Considering he already publiclyco-signed Dreamville’s EarthGang – the ATL duo often likened to Outkast – it wasn’t surprising he confirmed a collaboration is in the works.
“I got a record that I’m going to do with them that’s just sitting in my email for once I get back in the studio,” he said.
Check out “Tremendous Damage” above.