Synopsis

Set against the violence of the early transatlantic slave trade, the video presents Gravediggaz as spectral witnesses to a history of capture, transport, enslavement, and cultural erasure. Period imagery and theatrical confrontations connect the group's grim persona to the suffering of Africans forced into the Americas. RZA, Frukwan, and Too Poetic perform amid stark, unsettling scenes that turn the song's cry from the Earth into both a historical lament and a warning about oppression that continues beyond the past.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1997 to support *The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel*, Gravediggaz's second album.

• "The Night the Earth Cried" was the album's second and final single. It followed "Dangerous Mindz," but neither single became a Billboard chart hit.

• The historical framing points to 1555 and the activities of English slave trader John Hawkins, giving the video a more literal connection to the song's references to enslavement and the African diaspora.

• The shoot took place in Los Angeles on September 17 and 18, 1997. Production records list Karen McCarthy as producer and Dave Daniels as director of photography.

• The song was co-produced by RZA and 4th Disciple. Its somber, ominous sound marked a shift from the more overtly comic horrorcore of the group's debut toward a more serious and politically conscious approach.

• The US maxi-single included the radio edit, album mix, instrumental, and acapella versions. An enhanced CD release also included the music video.

• The video has remained a notable entry in Gravediggaz's small but distinctive visual catalog, especially for its combination of historical subject matter, martial-arts-style staging, and the group's horror-themed imagery.