Quarashi - Weirdo

What this video is

Released as part of Quarashi's US debut album Jinx (Columbia Records, April 2002), 'Weirdo' and its video represent a rare self-documented record of an Icelandic hip-hop act navigating the American music industry at the height of the nu-metal/rap-rock crossover era. The video captures the band's pre-deal hustle in New York and Los Angeles, functioning as an ethnographic document of Icelandic artists encountering…

Why it matters

A key artifact in the internationalization of Icelandic hip-hop, 'Weirdo' sits at the intersection of rap-rock, alternative hip-hop, and DIY documentary aesthetics. Its self-shot format prefigures the 'raw footage' trend in hip-hop video culture. As a track on Jinx — an album that reached MTV2…

The director

Gaukur Úlfarsson is the bassist of Quarashi, the Icelandic rap-rock group from Reykjavík. He served as editor of the 'Weirdo' music video. He is described by bandmate Sölvi Blöndal as 'a musician with a good eye for editing.' His bass work appears throughout…