On August 13, 2019, with the drop of the music video of his new single “Pray,” Paasky is who you’d call an icon living. The New Orleans rapper blends the rhythmic style and charisma of the late Notorious B.I.G. with the swagger only those born in the 5th Ward could bring. Since his debut in 2011 with the album Suggested Retail, Paasky has released five albums and even more EPS all merged with music of many genres ranging from r&b, gospel, blues, EDM and many more.

The emergence of “Pray,” produced by Jon Mercure, calls for a sort of humility and gangster in the same breath the song and its corresponding video are referential only in the best of ways. 

“With ‘Pray,’ I wanted to make a record about the misunderstanding or rather the misoverstanding of religion,” says Paasky. “I wanted to sound like a combination of gospel which is considered ‘Church Music’ and Blues which is considered ‘Devil Music.’  People only relate to religion from the perspective of belonging to a particular denomination or organization, when religion is simply a belief or worship in a superhuman power. The superhuman power could be money, sex, drugs, scamming, finessing,the streets, etc. Whatever has a grip on you or is the main reason you get up in the morning, is your religion. And truth is, we all have different religions and serve multiple masters. So no matter who you are or who you think you are, we all fucked up and ain’t shit at the end of the day.”

Paasky’s attempt to show us the misunderstanding of religion is depicted through visual imagery accenting the different cultures, religions and lifestyles persons may live. Whether a person is rich, homeless, a Christian, a hustler, a Hindu or an Buddhist, they all stop for a moment in time to pray.” In the Ceaux Young-directed music video, shot by Visionary Barnes, the varying “religions” all end up in the same place.

Find Paasky on Twitter, Instagram and Soundcloud.