Danny Brown - When It Rain

What this video is

Released June 14, 2016, 'When It Rain' marked Danny Brown's debut on Warp Records and served as the opening salvo for Atrocity Exhibition, his most critically acclaimed album. The video's deployment of Detroit street-dance footage, decayed urban imagery, and VHS collage aesthetics functions as both a geographic and cultural document of Detroit's underground arts community at a moment when the city's post-bankruptcy…

Why it matters

A defining visual artifact of mid-2010s experimental/art-rap. The video's aesthetic—fast-cut VHS collage, Detroit localism, and psychedelic movement imagery—directly mirrors Atrocity Exhibition's sonic fusion of post-punk, noise, and hip-hop, and helped establish the visual grammar for a wave of…

The director

Mimi Cave is an American filmmaker, choreographer, and former dancer born in Chicago. She began her career directing music videos for artists including Vance Joy, Danny Brown, Sleigh Bells, Sylvan Esso, Lucius, and Tune-Yards. She joined the DGA as a…