DRAM - Best Hugs

What this video is

Released August 8, 2018, 'Best Hugs' arrived three weeks after DRAM's surprise EP That's a Girls Name (July 18, 2018, Atlantic/Empire), a three-track project characterized by critics as 'deeply goofy and fun takes on 1980s soul.' The video participates in a late-2010s trend of hip-hop videos that self-consciously deconstruct genre tropes—here, the 'steal your girl' party video—through humor and body positivity. By…

Why it matters

Represents a strand of mid-to-late 2010s hip-hop/R&B that fused synth-driven 1980s adult contemporary production with Southern rap cadences. The video is a notable artifact of the era's comedic subversion trend within hip-hop visuals, sitting alongside a broader movement of artists using retro…

The director

Australian director and former advertising creative. Began career as a copywriter in Australia before relocating to the UK, where he worked as a writer, creative, and art director at agencies including Fallon, Glue Society, and Grey London. Known for surreal…