Several of New Orleans’ musical and artistic talents were prominently featured at this year’s NAACP Image Awards virtual pre-show telecast on March 24.

Rapper and producer Pell and New Orleans music collective GLBL WRMNG performed “504” while New Orleans-based visual artist Brandan “BMike” Odums painted a mural in real-time. Together they created an immersive art experience celebrating Black culture. “504” made premiered on February 5 on YouTube in advance of the album release of glbl wrmng, vol. 1 on February 19.

GLBL WRMNG is a collective of New Orleans creatives that includes songwriters, lawyers, producers, visual and performing artists, publishers, singers, musicians, emcees, engineers, managers, photographers, activists, and curators. The collective’s website states that the group “is dedicated to changing the historic narrative of POC artists being exploited financially, culturally, and otherwise not only in New Orleans but in urban epicenters both domestic and abroad.”

In an interview for Complex, Pell said the beat for “504” was created by New Orleans producer Niyo Davinci, who died in 2020. The song and video are dedicated to him and all proceeds from the YouTube stream will be donated to Concerned Citizens of St. John Parish, a grassroots organization working for environmental justice..

Brandan “BMike” Odums is a New Orleans-based visual artist who, through exhibitions, public programs, and public art works, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersection of art and resistance. In 2008 he received an NAACP Image Award.