Nobody Speak
August 28, 2016 7:47 PM Subscribe
Remember when DJ Shadow got shut down on Miami Beach doing his set?
Yeah.
Nothing changed since that. YEAH!
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:50 PM on August 28, 2016
Yeah.
Nothing changed since that. YEAH!
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:50 PM on August 28, 2016
I was so ready for this fellow to be actual Ambassador Bolton just based on the mustache and glasses.
posted by Peccable at 8:52 PM on August 28, 2016
posted by Peccable at 8:52 PM on August 28, 2016
I've been listening to this song since it came out. Instant classic!
posted by ashbury at 9:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ashbury at 9:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Says DJ Shadow: "We wanted to make a positive, life-affirming video that captures politicians at their election-year best. We got this instead.”
posted by zinc saucier at 9:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by zinc saucier at 9:18 PM on August 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
Inspired by this photo?
At the climax of the video, my mind immediately went to this image.
The rest of the time, I could only think of how fuckin' awesome a Trump presidency would really be.
posted by not_on_display at 10:33 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
At the climax of the video, my mind immediately went to this image.
The rest of the time, I could only think of how fuckin' awesome a Trump presidency would really be.
posted by not_on_display at 10:33 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Weird, in the youtube version the countries on the main two name plates are blurred out. There's a post of this on vimeo with the plates readable (USA is about to get stabbed with the flag by the UK). They also have the actors listed on the vimeo link and there is some conversation in the comments about where exactly it was shot.
posted by NormieP at 10:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by NormieP at 10:40 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Isn't this live feed from the Taiwanese parliament?
posted by PenDevil at 10:47 PM on August 28, 2016
posted by PenDevil at 10:47 PM on August 28, 2016
Flux:
Love it Sam! Would love to hear why the country plaques are blurred in the YouTube version. Please do tell.
Sam Pilling:
Nobody speak, nobody get choked ;)
posted by infinitewindow at 11:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Love it Sam! Would love to hear why the country plaques are blurred in the YouTube version. Please do tell.
Sam Pilling:
Nobody speak, nobody get choked ;)
posted by infinitewindow at 11:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Can someone explain the pig?
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:11 PM on August 28, 2016
posted by wildblueyonder at 11:11 PM on August 28, 2016
At the climax of the video, my mind immediately went to this image.
Jesus, if that was in a movie I'd say it was too unrealistically on-the-nose.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 11:53 PM on August 28, 2016
Jesus, if that was in a movie I'd say it was too unrealistically on-the-nose.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 11:53 PM on August 28, 2016
The ending is great
posted by gt2 at 12:24 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by gt2 at 12:24 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
One of the first CDs I ever purchased was DJ Shadow's Entroducing..... One of my fav albums to play in the background when writing a paper or doing some work. The new album is lots of fun. Though this post only serves as a reminder of how old I have become.
posted by Fizz at 4:51 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 4:51 AM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
Dope.
posted by Bob Regular at 5:12 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bob Regular at 5:12 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not to be morbid but I was really hoping it was descending into a John Woo style gun battle.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:14 AM on August 29, 2016
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:14 AM on August 29, 2016
I like this song and this music. But I'm kind of ignorant about rap music. Can someone explain the lyrics to me like I'm 5 like I'm 50?
What I'm confused about is the broad outline. It sounds like a basic rap battle between El-P and Killer Mike, trashing each other. Only with a bunch of self-deprecation that leads to insults of the other ("I'm a bag of dicks ... put me to your lips"). But then towards the end the two seem to come together, starting around the line "What more can I say? We top billin' it", a reconciliation against the world.
Is that right with the lyrics? And if so, does it diverge from the video? The video seems entirely to be stylizing a rap battle as violence between politicians, but there's no reconciliation there, it just gets more and more unhinged.
(BTW, DJ Shadow did a new Essential Mix a couple of months ago that's pretty good.)
posted by Nelson at 7:13 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
What I'm confused about is the broad outline. It sounds like a basic rap battle between El-P and Killer Mike, trashing each other. Only with a bunch of self-deprecation that leads to insults of the other ("I'm a bag of dicks ... put me to your lips"). But then towards the end the two seem to come together, starting around the line "What more can I say? We top billin' it", a reconciliation against the world.
Is that right with the lyrics? And if so, does it diverge from the video? The video seems entirely to be stylizing a rap battle as violence between politicians, but there's no reconciliation there, it just gets more and more unhinged.
(BTW, DJ Shadow did a new Essential Mix a couple of months ago that's pretty good.)
posted by Nelson at 7:13 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Beautiful building, though. It's the International Convention Center "Ukrainian House" in Kiev. And, considering the topic of the video, this photo seems completely relevant.
posted by mrbula at 9:47 AM on August 29, 2016
posted by mrbula at 9:47 AM on August 29, 2016
@Nelson,
When was the last time you listened to much rap, because missing out on what's happening with the genre in the last 20 years could probably confuse a lot of people. A lot of rap has begun to go a lot more experimental like rock did in the 80's. El-P is definitely part of this kind of "out-there" kind of rap that usually employs more unusual musical structures and instrumentation with more kind of freestyle stream-of-consciousness lyricism that doesn't worry about lyrical content in terms of giving the listener a message or story. In fact, you could almost call it "noise rap" in a lot of ways, which implies the music and the lyrics to be somewhat incoherent and non-musical (much like its spiritual predecessor in noise rock.). A lot of the way El-P's style is structured is also recalling some elements of gangster rap in the 90's, which is also arguably where Killer Mike got his start, thus placing Mike (older and wiser) in a position to experiment more freely with a collaborator like El-P. It's part of why it sounds like a rap battle from the 90's, it has a similar structure, and there is often an element of that style in El-P's raps/music, and Killer Mike absolutely still dispenses coherent, intelligent rap. So, in all, I would look at it the same way I look at Thom Yorke's singing: I don't look for meaning in the lyrics. At all. I listen to the voice as an instrument, and I definitely think that there is also some element of that to Run the Jewels.
Now, Run the Jewels are just the rappers, and their own music is much different from the style DJ Shadow employs here, so if you aren't familiar with their stuff, it might be why the structure of this song and the lyrics don't immediately make sense. It's definitely a free-flowy-noisy-open-to-interpretation type thing with kind of a gangsta-rap flavor.
I mean, if you haven't seen it, check out stuff from Run the Jewels Meow the Jewels which is a remix album with mostly cat sounds. Pretty out there stuff, but all really good at the same time.
posted by deadaluspark at 12:18 PM on August 29, 2016 [11 favorites]
When was the last time you listened to much rap, because missing out on what's happening with the genre in the last 20 years could probably confuse a lot of people. A lot of rap has begun to go a lot more experimental like rock did in the 80's. El-P is definitely part of this kind of "out-there" kind of rap that usually employs more unusual musical structures and instrumentation with more kind of freestyle stream-of-consciousness lyricism that doesn't worry about lyrical content in terms of giving the listener a message or story. In fact, you could almost call it "noise rap" in a lot of ways, which implies the music and the lyrics to be somewhat incoherent and non-musical (much like its spiritual predecessor in noise rock.). A lot of the way El-P's style is structured is also recalling some elements of gangster rap in the 90's, which is also arguably where Killer Mike got his start, thus placing Mike (older and wiser) in a position to experiment more freely with a collaborator like El-P. It's part of why it sounds like a rap battle from the 90's, it has a similar structure, and there is often an element of that style in El-P's raps/music, and Killer Mike absolutely still dispenses coherent, intelligent rap. So, in all, I would look at it the same way I look at Thom Yorke's singing: I don't look for meaning in the lyrics. At all. I listen to the voice as an instrument, and I definitely think that there is also some element of that to Run the Jewels.
Now, Run the Jewels are just the rappers, and their own music is much different from the style DJ Shadow employs here, so if you aren't familiar with their stuff, it might be why the structure of this song and the lyrics don't immediately make sense. It's definitely a free-flowy-noisy-open-to-interpretation type thing with kind of a gangsta-rap flavor.
I mean, if you haven't seen it, check out stuff from Run the Jewels Meow the Jewels which is a remix album with mostly cat sounds. Pretty out there stuff, but all really good at the same time.
posted by deadaluspark at 12:18 PM on August 29, 2016 [11 favorites]
I want to know how and why this video was shot in Kiev, London and New York (per Youtube video info).
posted by infinitewindow at 12:46 PM on August 29, 2016
posted by infinitewindow at 12:46 PM on August 29, 2016
Thanks, daedaluspark. Does it seem odd to have a video with such an explicit and straightforward narrative message for a song that's "free-flowy-noisy"? I like both the music and the video on their own terms, I'm just a bit baffled at the juxtaposition.
(BTW, the video reminds me of Romain Gavras' video for Justice / Stress in terms of being pure agitprop. As seen on Metafilter.)
posted by Nelson at 12:57 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
(BTW, the video reminds me of Romain Gavras' video for Justice / Stress in terms of being pure agitprop. As seen on Metafilter.)
posted by Nelson at 12:57 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
I like both the music and the video on their own terms, I'm just a bit baffled at the juxtaposition.
I'm actually right there with you on that. There seems to be no coherent connection between the video and the song, but I guess I personally feel that's largely the case with most music videos. So, in that, it doesn't actually strike me as very unusual. I would say that the video doesn't surprise me considering Killer Mike's very astute and intelligent political views (considering an old song of his, Reagan), but at the same time, musicians often don't have a huge amount of input in to the creation of a music video, which tends to lie more in the mind of the writer/director/creative director of the video. So, he may have not had anything to do with the subject matter at all.
So yeah, right there with you.
posted by deadaluspark at 2:12 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm actually right there with you on that. There seems to be no coherent connection between the video and the song, but I guess I personally feel that's largely the case with most music videos. So, in that, it doesn't actually strike me as very unusual. I would say that the video doesn't surprise me considering Killer Mike's very astute and intelligent political views (considering an old song of his, Reagan), but at the same time, musicians often don't have a huge amount of input in to the creation of a music video, which tends to lie more in the mind of the writer/director/creative director of the video. So, he may have not had anything to do with the subject matter at all.
So yeah, right there with you.
posted by deadaluspark at 2:12 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Flame your crew quicker than Trump fucks his youngest"
DAAAAAAAAAAAMN
posted by Maaik at 7:56 PM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
DAAAAAAAAAAAMN
posted by Maaik at 7:56 PM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]
Video also reminds me of the recent fight in the Turkish parliament
Which inspired this brilliant mashup
posted by Maaik at 8:00 PM on August 29, 2016
Which inspired this brilliant mashup
posted by Maaik at 8:00 PM on August 29, 2016
Words to live by in this song:
I don't work for free, I'm barely giving a fuck away.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:22 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't work for free, I'm barely giving a fuck away.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:22 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
@infinitewindow, it looks like the artists weren't present at the actual filming. You only see them in closeups. So, maybe they were just filmed wherever they happened to be available?
posted by mrbula at 9:03 PM on August 29, 2016
posted by mrbula at 9:03 PM on August 29, 2016
mrbula, that makes sense. I have no idea what Josh, El-P and Mike look like and didn't know they were in the video.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:33 PM on August 29, 2016
posted by infinitewindow at 9:33 PM on August 29, 2016
What I'm confused about is the broad outline. It sounds like a basic rap battle between El-P and Killer Mike, trashing each other. Only with a bunch of self-deprecation that leads to insults of the other ("I'm a bag of dicks ... put me to your lips"). But then towards the end the two seem to come together, starting around the line "What more can I say? We top billin' it", a reconciliation against the world.
El-P is definitely part of this kind of "out-there" kind of rap that usually employs more unusual musical structures and instrumentation with more kind of freestyle stream-of-consciousness lyricism that doesn't worry about lyrical content in terms of giving the listener a message or story. . . . A lot of the way El-P's style is structured is also recalling some elements of gangster rap in the 90's, which is also arguably where Killer Mike got his start, thus placing Mike (older and wiser) in a position to experiment more freely with a collaborator like El-P. It's part of why it sounds like a rap battle from the 90's, it has a similar structure, and there is often an element of that style in El-P's raps/music, and Killer Mike absolutely still dispenses coherent, intelligent rap. So, in all, I would look at it the same way I look at Thom Yorke's singing: I don't look for meaning in the lyrics. At all. I listen to the voice as an instrument, and I definitely think that there is also some element of that to Run the Jewels.
I wanted to chime in that I disagree with much of what deadaluspark wrote here. I've been an El-P fan since Fantastic Damage, and he is every bit the storyteller that Mike is. His last two solo albums (I'll Sleep When You're Dead and Cancer 4 Cure) are vividly illustrated concept albums each telling a concrete long form story. I guess some of his lyrics can be impressionistic, but I don't agree with that as a rule. Also, Mike and El are the same age and both have been active for a long time, with their debut work both happening around 2000, so the whole "Mike is older, wiser" thing doesn't scan for me. Further, Mike got his start with Outkast, which is far outside the trad 90's "gangster rap" thing that was really more on the LA-NYC axis. ATL was doing its own thing on its own time. I just asked my wife, who was DJing in Atlanta in the late '90s, if Outkast was gangster rap, and she laughed at me.
I think what's going on here is twofold. First, the video gives the impression that El and Mike are rapping toward each other, but in the context of the rest of their RtJ work, it's pretty obvious that it's RtJ vs the World. They're best friends and they'll fight for each other to the death (the best friends thing is totally real. The affection they have for each other in interviews is adorable).
Second, well, RtJ kind of phones it in on these guest verses. This is on par with their track with Big Grams and their Miike Snow remix: lyrically a little vacant. Their work on their own albums is amazing, and they're two of my all time favorite albums, but it's pretty obvious, IMO, that they just get high as hell and write some stuff on these guest spots.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 11:11 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
El-P is definitely part of this kind of "out-there" kind of rap that usually employs more unusual musical structures and instrumentation with more kind of freestyle stream-of-consciousness lyricism that doesn't worry about lyrical content in terms of giving the listener a message or story. . . . A lot of the way El-P's style is structured is also recalling some elements of gangster rap in the 90's, which is also arguably where Killer Mike got his start, thus placing Mike (older and wiser) in a position to experiment more freely with a collaborator like El-P. It's part of why it sounds like a rap battle from the 90's, it has a similar structure, and there is often an element of that style in El-P's raps/music, and Killer Mike absolutely still dispenses coherent, intelligent rap. So, in all, I would look at it the same way I look at Thom Yorke's singing: I don't look for meaning in the lyrics. At all. I listen to the voice as an instrument, and I definitely think that there is also some element of that to Run the Jewels.
I wanted to chime in that I disagree with much of what deadaluspark wrote here. I've been an El-P fan since Fantastic Damage, and he is every bit the storyteller that Mike is. His last two solo albums (I'll Sleep When You're Dead and Cancer 4 Cure) are vividly illustrated concept albums each telling a concrete long form story. I guess some of his lyrics can be impressionistic, but I don't agree with that as a rule. Also, Mike and El are the same age and both have been active for a long time, with their debut work both happening around 2000, so the whole "Mike is older, wiser" thing doesn't scan for me. Further, Mike got his start with Outkast, which is far outside the trad 90's "gangster rap" thing that was really more on the LA-NYC axis. ATL was doing its own thing on its own time. I just asked my wife, who was DJing in Atlanta in the late '90s, if Outkast was gangster rap, and she laughed at me.
I think what's going on here is twofold. First, the video gives the impression that El and Mike are rapping toward each other, but in the context of the rest of their RtJ work, it's pretty obvious that it's RtJ vs the World. They're best friends and they'll fight for each other to the death (the best friends thing is totally real. The affection they have for each other in interviews is adorable).
Second, well, RtJ kind of phones it in on these guest verses. This is on par with their track with Big Grams and their Miike Snow remix: lyrically a little vacant. Their work on their own albums is amazing, and they're two of my all time favorite albums, but it's pretty obvious, IMO, that they just get high as hell and write some stuff on these guest spots.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 11:11 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
I just noticed that the youtube vid in the fpp has the “United States” and “United Kingdom” signs blurred, unlike the vimeo version.
Apparently the profanities are okay for YT, but nation names are not.
posted by farlukar at 6:47 AM on August 30, 2016
Apparently the profanities are okay for YT, but nation names are not.
posted by farlukar at 6:47 AM on August 30, 2016
I mean, if you haven't seen it, check out stuff from Run the Jewels Meow the Jewels which is a remix album with mostly cat sounds.
Needs [cyriak] warning.
posted by wildblueyonder at 9:12 AM on August 30, 2016
Needs [cyriak] warning.
posted by wildblueyonder at 9:12 AM on August 30, 2016
> Needs [cyriak] warning.
Warning? Ah, silly me. I always thought [cyriak] was a recommendation.
posted by farlukar at 10:07 AM on August 30, 2016
Warning? Ah, silly me. I always thought [cyriak] was a recommendation.
posted by farlukar at 10:07 AM on August 30, 2016
But then towards the end the two seem to come together, starting around the line "What more can I say? We top billin' it", a reconciliation against the world.
Is that right with the lyrics? And if so, does it diverge from the video?
I mean, i see no light between 'top billing' and 'i am death / we will bury you', that's just typical business speak
posted by eustatic at 11:56 AM on August 31, 2016
Is that right with the lyrics? And if so, does it diverge from the video?
I mean, i see no light between 'top billing' and 'i am death / we will bury you', that's just typical business speak
posted by eustatic at 11:56 AM on August 31, 2016
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