"Tunnel Vision"
Single by Kodak Black
from the album Painting Pictures
ReleasedFebruary 16, 2017
Recorded2016
Genre
Length4:28
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Kodak Black singles chronology
"There He Go"
(2016)		 "Tunnel Vision"
(2017)		 "Drowning"
(2017)
Music video
"Tunnel Vision" on YouTube

"Tunnel Vision" is a song by American rapper Kodak Black, released on February 17, 2017, by Dollaz N Dealz Entertainment, Sniper Gang, and Atlantic Records as the second single from his debut studio album, Painting Pictures (2017).[1] Produced by Metro Boomin, Southside, and Cubeatz, the track peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100.[2][3] The track samples the song "El Aparecido" by Inti-Illimani, a Chilean folk band, part of the Nueva canción movement.

Background

Kodak Black was released from a jail in South Carolina on bail following a rape case which he was accused of, a couple weeks prior to the recording of the song. Kodak Black released a preview of the song on his Instagram account when he was in the studio with Metro Boomin in Miami, Florida, and it gained millions of plays before its official release two months after.[4][5][6]

Music video

The song's accompanying music video premiered a day before the song was released as single, on February 16, 2017, on Kodak Black's YouTube account. The music video currently has over 300 million views. In the video, a white man wearing a Confederate flag jacket and a "Make America Hate Again" hat arrives at a "hunting ground" where a black man is working on a farm. The white man tries to fire a gun at the black man, but the gun malfunctions. The black man attempts to choke the white man, until a young girl tells them to stop.[7] There is a Ku Klux Klan member hanging from a cross in the background.

Commercial performance

"Tunnel Vision" debuted at number 27 on US Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated March 12, 2017.[8] The following week, it entered the top 10, moving up to number eight;[9] it has since peaked at number six.[10] It is Kodak Black's first top 10 single. In March 2017, the song was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for earning 500,000 equivalent units in the United States, a month and a half after its initial release.[11] On June 30, 2017, "Tunnel Vision" was certified as double platinum by the RIAA.[12]

Reception

Matthew Pulver of Salon compared the song's music video to Snoop Dogg's "Lavender (Nightfall Remix)" music video. Pulver praised Kodak's video, writing, "The Jim Crow-era imagery combines with slave-era servitude and contemporary Trumpism to construct a critique of the current crisis that stretches through generations to link it to the centuries-long national history of anti-black violence and oppression."[13]

Lyrical references

Kodak Black played the original recording of the full song at some of his concerts, which included the following lyrics:

I jumped out of that Wraith, Kodak bought a Wraith
I get any girl I want, I don't gotta rape

This was a reference to Kodak Black's pending criminal charges of rape in South Carolina. The reference was removed in the final version of the song.[14]

Other references to Kodak Black's legal troubles include the lyric: "Lil' Kodak they don't wanna see you winnin', they just wanna see you in the penitentiary."[15]

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[24] Gold 45,000‡
France (SNEP)[25] Gold 100,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Gold 400,000‡
United States (RIAA)[27] 6× Platinum 6,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "Chart Search - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tunnel Vision - Single by Kodak Blue on Mango Music". Itunes.apple.com. February 17, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Instagram". Instagram. February 16, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Kodak Black and Metro Boomin Have Some Crazy Music on the Way - XXL". Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Kodak Black & Metro Boomin Are Cooking Up Serious Dope". HNHH. 18 December 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Watch Kodak Black's "Tunnel Vision" Video". Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  7. ↑ White, Caitlin (2017-02-17). "Behind The Scenes Of Kodak Black's Racially-Charged 'Tunnel Vision'". UPROXX.
  8. ↑ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ Trust, Gary (March 6, 2017). "The Chainsmokers Match Beatles & Bee Gees With Three Songs in Hot 100's Top 10 & Ed Sheeran Holds at No. 1". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  10. ↑ Trust, Gary (March 13, 2017). "Ed Sheeran Stays Atop Hot 100, Clean Bandit Bounds to Top 10". Billboard. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Instagram post by Project Baby • Mar 30, 2017 at 9:59pm UTC". Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  13. ↑ Pulver, Matthew (March 27, 2017). "Forget Snoop Dogg's Trump clown: This anti-Trump hip hop video is radical, thought-provoking and wildly popular". Salon. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Kodak Black Removes Controversial Rape Lyric From Final Version Of New Single "Tunnel Vision"". Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  15. ↑ Clarkson, Brett (April 5, 2017). "Woman Accuses Rapper Kodak Black of Punching, Kicking Her As She Worked at Miami Strip Club". Sun Sentinel.
  16. ↑ "Kodak Black Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Kodak Black Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Kodak Black Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Kodak Black Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Canadian Hot 100 – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Hot 100 Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Danish single certifications – Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  25. ↑ "French single certifications – Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  26. ↑ "British single certifications – Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  27. ↑ "American single certifications – Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision". Recording Industry Association of America.
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