A screen shot from the video for “West Philly Jawn” by Post Sun Times.
West Philly means a lot of things to a lot of people. We get a chance to see what it means to members of the band Post Sun Times in the video for their song “West Philly Jawn” posted on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Philly music magazine Jump, singer/guitarist Robin Carine noted that the band members grew up in North Jersey and that he himself has lived in West Philly since 2009.
The video includes a riff with Mike Fuller, the trolley poet, and few seconds of the world through Omar‘s eyes.
Singer/bassist Matthew Kay tells Jump, “The video is a cross-section of sights and people in the area. It’s our love letter to our home and it stars Sing from Mary’s Deli. Oh, and we put a GoPro on Omar.”
Here’s the video:
July 20th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
The music is awful. The filming is worse. West Philadelphia deserves so much more. Sigh.
July 20th, 2016 at 5:36 pm
so where’s the better song you wrote, recorded and shot a video for? #bethechange
July 20th, 2016 at 6:17 pm
Again: it’s gross (to be mild) that a few of the young, white, educated neighbors (including these guys in the band) so openly enable, encourage and humiliate on social media the older, middle eastern semi-homeless alcoholic guy. He’s not a street performer, a tv character, or “local flavor.” He’s a terminal alcoholic that they’re helping commit suicide, loudly and angrily, in front of dozens of neighbors who really, really wish you would be considerate and grown-up when it comes to actually respecting the neighborhood and neighbors that they claim to like enough to write wack songs about.
July 20th, 2016 at 6:36 pm
^agree, it’s gross. you can interact with omar without using his name to promote your band.
this also comes off as the whitest and most boring tour of west philly ever. cool “jawn”
July 20th, 2016 at 10:46 pm
West Philly deserves better than this. Even Omar, who I have very little tolerance for, deserves better.
July 20th, 2016 at 11:26 pm
Why did WPL choose to publish this?
July 21st, 2016 at 6:49 am
What instruments do you people play? What s bunch of crybabies. None of you are out there trying to help Omar. Yet, tear up a couple of people who are trying to have fun. Get over yourselves. You’re all so ugly with your comments. Gotta love the person who brings race into the issue, right Murphy? You’re a clown. Totally. 100%. The real blame is on WPL, who decided to take a break from all the fires and robberies to try and report something fun. When will they learn that their audience is a group of self loathing, social injustice warriors who really only care about building projects and dog parks.
July 21st, 2016 at 11:04 am
As a resident of West Philly from 1995, this video is pretty much a sophomoric surface view of West Philly by people who are pretty new to the neighborhood in comparison to everyone else, and should not be considered representative of West Philly at all.
And yes, their exploitation of Omar is shameful.
Plus, the song title “West Philly Jawn” indicates heavily that “Jawn” is a recently learned term in your lexicon and lacks authenticity.
July 21st, 2016 at 11:08 am
Thank you WPL for posting this fun song and video about West Philly. Let’s hope not everyone in the hood takes themselves as serious as some of the people leaving comments. This is not the BBC people.
July 21st, 2016 at 3:27 pm
I’ve known Omar personally for 10 years & knew he should be involved as a notable part of the neighborhood. I asked him (sober) if he wanted to participate, he said he would not appear on camera (which I respected) but would love to film. He had a great time & I included a few seconds of it. This thread is full of white-guilt-ridden a-holes who just want to hate on everything. But I guess that’s what online comment sections are for. All white?? Mary’s Deli? The Weave Bar? Dahlak? Queen of Sheba? Penn Cafe? Cedar Park Cafe? All minority owned businesses heavily featured. African American history mural on 52nd st? A clear anti-police brutality message that invokes the MOVE bombing (which most people outside of Philly have never even heard of)? If you’re not aware, white people live in West Philly now too. Sorry we didn’t move there in 1995 when we were 10 years old. 1995 the absolute cutoff of authenticity. Lexicon Man moved to West Philly in 1995 & is therefore authentic! He alone knows what jawn means! GET LIVES.
July 22nd, 2016 at 7:20 pm
I suppose all the conversation shows the divergent viewpoints and people in the neighborhood. I’ve been around with my pals and kids and dogs and bike and running shoes and cars and wife and with many songs going through my head. Maybe this will become one of them. If not, I suppose I’ll find another. Rock n Roll is evolution man, so it’s my guess these cats will evolve with the rest of us.
July 24th, 2016 at 12:03 am
“Oh, and we put a GoPro on Omar.” Like he’s a bike, or a helmet, or a dog.
And, come on, he’s drinking a beer, you can see it at the :57 mark, so like, they “asked him sober” but filmed him getting drunk and used that as the hook for the video? And it’s everybody else’s fault for having a having a problem with that. The guy goes along with whatever the students want him to do because his “celebrity” is what keeps him able to get drunk, but he hates it, and he doesn’t really like the students, which is why he’s a criminally mean drunk. Most new residents seem to figure this out in about a month, so I’m not sure why the guy who’s known him for 10 years hadn’t. I guess maybe he does now.
Anyway, its obvious the band spent a lot of time on the video and wanted to make something that celebrated the neighborhood – good for them, that’s actually cool – it just backfired with some poor judgment, compounded by their hysterical reaction to the criticism. Like, it’s not a coincidence that the video’s critics mostly point to actions (this was an immature dumb thing to do) but the people defending the video are mostly namecalling (you’re a clown, you’re an a-hole). Wouldn’t have been a bad move to say you’re sorry people saw it that way and that wasn’t your intent, but that’s just my opinion.
July 28th, 2016 at 12:02 am
I hear they’re changing the name of Malcolm X Park to Kurt Vile Park.
July 28th, 2016 at 12:32 am
Horatio bringing the sick 🔥🔥💪
July 31st, 2016 at 11:30 pm
Oh my god, this video makes me want to leave west philly and never ever come back.