This song is built around an excerpt of a speech by the US congressional representative and Civil Rights leader John Lewis. After the sample, Michael Kiwanuka and his band then spin-off into a musical world of their own making.
Michael Kiwanuka explained to Apple Music that "Loving The People" was originally an instrumental he created on his Wurlitzer tagged on at the end of the "Final Days" track. However, he thought the tune had some potential, so he stretched it out with co-producers Inflo and Danger Mouse's help. Then Danger Mouse found the John Lewis sample in a 1960 NBC White Paper news documentary on the sit-in movement for civil rights in the South. They thought it "sounded beautiful and moving over these chords," so Kiwanuka slotted in the speech and made it a separate track.
US filmmaker Phillip Youmans directed the video, which illustrates an idyllic image of youth. The director reflected on the making of the clip, explaining: "Listening to Interlude (Loving the People) feels like sunshine on my skin. This film is an escapist trip where young black people revel in the psychedelic experience. For me, Loving the People is about the adrenaline of unconfined love and joy, a celebration of black youth and imagination." Youmans took home the 2019 Founders Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, which he received for his directorial debut, Burning Cane.
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