If you’ve not yet heard of Butterscotch, allow me to introduce you. Antoinette Clinton is a singer, rapper, beatboxer, multi-instrumentalist, and hugely talented human from Sacramento, California. After creating a niche following as the world’s first female beatboxing champion in 2005, she achieved widespread recognition as a second runner-up on America’s Got Talent two years later.
Steadily recording as a solo artist, Butterscotch released her two-part debut, The Scotch Tapes, Vol. 1 and 2 earlier this year. Now, she’s just dropped a gorgeous video to accompany “Accept Who I Am,” the autobiographical closing track of Vol. 2.
Butterscotch Accepts Who She Is
The video, directed and choreographed by acclaimed filmmaker Mary John Frank, invites listeners to lean in a little closer and learn about what it was like growing up Butterscotch. She takes a deeply personal storytelling approach to illuminate her struggles with racial identity, sexuality, and depression.
It opens in Joshua Tree National Park with the pulse of a kick drum accompanied by Butterscotch’s soft piano melody. The frame cuts to black and white as she begins rapping about her past, “I didn’t grow up white / I didn’t grow up black / I didn’t grow up in a healthy habitat / Didn’t know what I was, didn’t know what I wanted to be / All I knew is what I couldn’t see.”
In each of the three verses, Butterscotch raps about a different struggle she found the strength to overcome in her youth. Switching to singing for the chorus, she drizzles her vocals like melted caramel over every note.
A believer in the healing power of music, Butterscotch hopes her song will reach and inspire people facing similar struggles as she once did. She calls on listeners to embrace themselves for who they are, saying, “Life is hard when you’re different and everyone thinks the same / Rise above all the bullshit stay on top of your game / The walls may crumble, keep on climbing to the top / They try to drag us down, but we’re never gonna stop!”
You can learn more about Butterscotch’s journey and the meaning behind “Accept Who I Am” here.
