Shabazz Palaces - Dawn in Luxor

What this video is

Released in May 2016, the official video for 'Dawn in Luxor' arrived roughly two years after the track's original appearance on Lese Majesty (Sub Pop, July 2014), Shabazz Palaces' critically acclaimed second LP that reached the Top Ten of the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Shabazz Palaces — the Seattle-based art-rap project of Ishmael Butler — was the first hip-hop act signed to Sub Pop Records, situating them at the…

Why it matters

The video exemplifies the visual grammar of mid-2010s avant-garde hip-hop, in which music video form becomes an extension of the music's anti-commercial, cosmological ambition. By sourcing NASA archival imagery rather than conventional performance or narrative staging, Gray and Shabazz Palaces…

The director

Stephan Gray is a director, cinematographer, and editor with credits spanning music videos, commercials, and narrative film. His IMVDb filmography lists 22 directing credits, 12 editing credits, and 8 director of photography credits. He operates under the…