clipping. - Get Up

What this video is

Released December 4, 2014 — the same day a grand jury declined to indict the officer responsible for Eric Garner's death — the video functions as an accidental yet devastating piece of protest art. Situated within the eruption of the Black Lives Matter movement following the deaths of Michael Brown (Ferguson, August 2014) and Eric Garner (July 2014), the video's imagery of a man rising and falling beneath pulsing…

Why it matters

A landmark of the noise-rap and experimental hip-hop video tradition, Get Up demonstrates how extreme formal minimalism — slow editing, locked frame, practical effects — can generate political and emotional impact exceeding high-budget spectacle. As clipping.'s third collaboration with Lopez…

The director

Carlos López Estrada (b. September 12, 1988, Mexico City) is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican-American filmmaker. He began directing music videos at age 19 and went on to collaborate with artists including clipping., Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Billie…