clipping. - Air 'Em Out

What this video is

Released August 24, 2016 as the second single from clipping.'s second album Splendor & Misery (Sub Pop/Deathbomb Arc, September 9, 2016), the video arrives at the peak of clipping.'s critical ascent following Daveed Diggs's Tony Award-winning run in Hamilton. The album is a Hugo Award-nominated Afrofuturist concept record narrating an enslaved person adrift in deep space — themes reflected in the video's stark,…

Why it matters

Represents the visual grammar of 2010s experimental/noise-rap: anti-spectacular, concept-driven, formally radical. The single-shot structure and practical zero-gravity effect prefigure a broader mid-2010s turn toward low-budget conceptual music video filmmaking as prestige form. Situates clipping.…

The director

Academy Award-nominated Mexican-American filmmaker born September 12, 1988 in Mexico City. Enrolled at Chapman University in the US. Won a Latin Grammy in 2012 for an animated music video for Jesse & Joy. Made his feature debut with Blindspotting (Sundance…