Shabazz Palaces - Dèesse Du Sang

What this video is

Released in October 2018, 'Dèesse Du Sang' (French: 'Goddess Of Blood') is a visual extension of Shabazz Palaces' Afrofuturist Quazarz mythology — a concept spanning twin 2017 albums on Sub Pop Records that frame Earth ('Amurderca') through the gaze of an alien observer navigating race, violence, and culture. The video's pastoral warrior imagery, ritual eroticism, and near-total darkness evoke a pre-colonial or…

Why it matters

Represents the outer edge of 2010s experimental hip-hop visual culture: a near-unedited, single-tableau music video that rejects conventional editing pace, performance footage, and narrative resolution in favor of immersive, painterly image-making. Aligns with arthouse video traditions (Chris…

The director

Stephan Gray is a music video director and cinematographer with over 22 directorial credits documented on IMVDb. He served as a recurring collaborator with Shabazz Palaces on Sub Pop Records, directing multiple videos including 'Dawn In Luxor' (2016), 'Since…