Clipse have had a near perfect rollout in terms of their latest album, Let God Sort Em Out. Even the Kendrick verse leaking ahead of time allowed fans to get over the delirium and hype of a ‘Kendrick Verse,’ and instead focus on the album as a whole. Arguably, now people are really center-staging the narrative of the album in their conversations, as opposed to living in the shadow of a Kendrick verse (which is obviously prime real estate for rappers this year).
That also seems to be the sentiment with which Clipse have rolled the video for ‘Chains & Whips’ out: the focus, more than Kendrick’s presence, is on concept, interpretation, ambiguity and making a case for hip hop as high art. The frames are deliberate and demonstrate the power of a strong storyboard, which is obvious from the ways in which each frame progresses the plot.
In its manner of edit, the video is literally warped in places, which compliments the silent sinister-ness of the short film. Commentating on the Black experience in the United States & imprisonment, juxtaposed with monochromatic shots of babies (who often seem to be rapping thanks to AI morphing) allows the viewer to confront a sense of the uncanny. Check it out below!
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