Cityreal & Wes Mackey hit the oil sands for "Nightlife" video

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      Vancouver rapper Cityreal (who was featured in the Straight's Local Motion column a few weeks ago) recent took a trip to Fort McMurray, Alberta, to complete shooting on a video for the track "Nightlife", which also features local bluesman Wes Mackey.

      The video also includes aerial footage of the oil sands shot by filmmaker Peter Mettler for the Greenpeace-produced documentary Petropolis. (You can read Martin Dunphy's review of Petropolis here.)

      Along with the video, Cityreal released a statement noting that “‘Nightlife’ is a track about how our bad habits can negatively affect our lives in the long term. In the past year, I was very much drawn into the controversy over the proposal of the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would be an environmental nightmare in my home province of BC. This proposal would see massive oil tankers and destructive pipelines pass through BC from the Alberta Oil Sands. The idea that Canada is allowing, and in fact encouraging the rapid development of such a harmful energy resource, at such a risk, was something I wanted to address through this video.”

      Comments

      2 Comments

      Jean Maxwell

      Feb 11, 2013 at 10:28am

      Another example of far too much publicity given to the rantings of the UNEDUCATED. Really, people! Take the time to find the facts and present them in context. You'd think they'd never heard of a pipeline before...don't come crying when you can't get to the store for your favorite granola bar because there's no gas for your car.

      Joey Stuart

      Feb 21, 2013 at 4:06pm

      Which oil company do u work for? Apathy = destruction. Of course we have to live with the fact tha pipelines must exist..but why through one of the most ecologically sensitive, unique and beautiful places in the world!