“The New Black Theory” is the first single from Kemba’s 2016 album, Negus. It was also the first single released by the artist after changing his name from YC the Cynic, which saw him transition away from a boom-bap sound.

The song is Kemba’s direct response to the idea of “The New Black”, popularised by some successful and high-profile African-Americans, most notably by Pharrell Williams in a 2014 Oprah interview. “The New Black”, Pharrell explained, “doesn’t blame other races for our issues.”

Kemba questions this idea, giving many examples of systemic and unavoidable racism that less successful blacks face on a day to day basis, both in the song and the accompanying video, focusing on police-violence, governmental oppression, and the vicious cycles of poverty and appropriation.

The cover depicts Raven Symone, who in another Oprah interview in 2014, stated that she was “an American … not an African-American.” Many, including Kemba himself, saw this as another relatively privileged black person trying to pretend that the racial divides in American society should, and could, be ignored.