UK-based Ghanaian musician Fuse ODG has released a song about his ordeal, criticising the police for harassing him, a few days after releasing a video showing his arrest by Met Police who claimed they could smell cannabis.
Titled IC3 and released on his OffTheGroundTV Youtube channel on May 26, 2023, the official music video of the four-minute song captured the UK-based Ghanaian musician and other blacks singing about the incident while highlighting IC3 – “A British Police code for identifying a black person”.
Fuse ODG made headlines on May 19, 2023, when he shared a video of his arrest and said he was “racially profiled” by four officers in Brixton on February 28, 2023.
In the said video, the officers had stopped and encircled Fuse ODG’s car, alleging to have detected the scent of cannabis and expressing their intention to search the vehicle for illicit drugs.
Disregarding Fuse ODG’s insistence on seeing their search warrant, the musician who was in the company of his manager Andre Hackett was forcibly detained in handcuffs and compelled to board a bus, where he sought clarification regarding the unjust treatment he had endured.
“It’s wild that this is the normal reality for too many of us growing up in this country. But even wilder is that this is still the reality in a post-George Floyd world,” BBC quotes Fuse ODG to have said.
“In the past months, we have seen so many videos of police officers beating up and even kneeling on our black children in the UK. I know because a lot of the time they come to me for help.
“The sad reality is that as a black man living in this system, it doesn’t matter how much money you make or the positive impact that you have on the world, they still only see you as one thing.”
While Fuse ODG awaits a response having filed a formal complaint to the police, he makes available a song he has composed about the incident.