STAGE TUBE: Daniel J. Watts, Wilkie Ferguson & Nicholas Christopher Release 'Another One'

When artists get together, magic happens. When they get together for social issues, change happens. That is what Daniel J. Watts (Whorl Inside A Loop, After Midnight), Wilkie Ferguson (Porgy n' Bess, Post Modern Jukebox), and Nicholas Christopher (Motown, Whorl Inside A Loop) hope to achieve upon the release of a new track and concept video entitled Another One. Check it out below!

The idea started when Ephraim Sykes (Hamilton, Newsies) sent a group text in response to the Walter Scott case that read, "I'm just afraid this is the straw that could break the camel's back." Watts replied, "I'm afraid people will say, 'Eh welp...another one bites the dust.'" This exchange led Watts to meet up with Ferguson and Christopher later that night to immediately begin working on an eerie reimagined version of Queen's 1980 hit Another One Bites The Dust. Watts provides spoken word poetry for the track, which is produced by Ferguson and features guitar provided by Christopher. Ferguson also sings the vocals.

"We all appeared in Motown the Musical's original company, so it only seemed appropriate to incorporate Marvin Gaye's What's Going On lyrics to the track." Said Ferguson. The video constructed and directed by Watts, which features most of the lyrics written out in chalk in a vacant lot, is a tribute to the many unarmed victims killed by police brutality. "I kept seeing this image of chalk outlines overlapping hopscotch squares and it all kind of unfolded from there. It took about 12 hours to do. I left it that night and came back the next morning to find it had all been washed away. I had to start all over, but it was worth the work."

"We want it to be clear that we are not anti-police, but want to see thorough investigation and accountability for improper policing methods. It is important that justice not only be served, but that the bad apples be weeded out so the real police officers, who want to serve the people, can go about their work. The disproportionate mishandling of people of color by certain members of law enforcement is not a new. Often deemed 'justifiable', countless many unarmed persons have found themselves on the wrong side of deadly police force, resulting in little to no further investigation.", says Watts.

Christopher comments, "People are outraged by both the gross mishandling of people of color and the lack of transparency by law enforcement. How many more people will we have to lose before the masses agree that there is a problem? The camera phone and body camera [for police] are supposed to be leveling the playing field and yet we watched Eric Garner take his last breaths and nothing happened."

Ferguson adds, "The America of 2015 loos alarmingly similar to the America of 1968, a point brilliantly illustrated in this month's Time Magazine cover. I think we owe it to our parents' generation to shed light on this and continue the fight they gave life to 40 years ago. To do anything less would be a disservice to all those who sacrificed their lives and well-being for the sake of civil rights."