Faisal Abdu’Allah

Abdu’Allah’s work examines power, race, masculinity, violence and faith. The title of this series refers to rapper Ice Cube’s 1991 song I Wanna Kill Sam. In the song, Ice Cube accuses ‘Uncle Sam’ – the popular North American term for the United States’s White establishment – of offences ranging from breaking up Black families under slavery, to spreading HIV and drug use among Black communities. Here, Abdu’Allah works with members of British rap group Scientists of Sound. They had agency throughout the process, wearing their own clothes, picking their props and selecting the final images which would represent them. Together, they challenge stereotypes and assumptions about Black male violence, reclaiming the images for themselves.