El-P - ＂Time Won't Tell＂

What this video is

Released in August 2010 alongside El-P's instrumental album Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3, this video occupies a precise cultural moment: the twilight of the Definitive Jux era of underground New York hip-hop, before El-P's commercial breakthrough with Run The Jewels. The video channels the 'Old New York' mythology — urban decay, creative necessity, unsupervised childhood in a crumbling city — that both…

Why it matters

Represents a key artifact of the 2000s–2010s underground instrumental hip-hop scene, where producer-led visual projects prioritized aesthetic and narrative ambition over commercial performance tropes. The video's documentary realism and autobiographical sourcing distinguished it within an era…

The director

Award-winning New York City-based filmmaker, DJ, and music producer. Directorial debut with documentary Downtown Calling (2009), exploring NYC arts and music culture of the 1970s. Went on to direct Rubble Kings (2015), an exploration of 1970s NYC gang…