The east-coast is often referred to as the birthplace of hip hop music. Originating in the 70s, it is characterized by noteworthy lyrics and wordplay and its effortless delivery. Along the way sub-genres like boom-bap emerged, creating an entire new scene for music and industry stars like Statik Selektah. Now faced with the 20s in front of us, there is no doubt that hip hop will continue to evolve, and styles will merge. In 2020, Statik released ‘Time’, an epic collaboration of his old school drum beat style with new school lyricist Jack Harlow. They paired this release with a professional animated lyric video unlike any other.
True fans of hip hop know and respect Statik Selektah and his iconic boom-bap sound. Hailing from Lawrence, Massachusetts, his music industry resume is decorated with producer, DJ and even radio personality. Growing up around music, Statik used to play around on his parents’ eight-track machine and turntables which lit the spark for his passion for music. He began DJing at local parties and eventually clubs. Knowing that producing music was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Statik founded Showoff Records in 2003. Since then, he has collaborated with the likes of Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, 2 Chainz and G-Eazy and currently has a show on Eminem’s ‘Shade 45’ XM/Sirius radio station.
Statik released his 9th full-length hip hop album ‘The Balancing Act’ in 2020 which features industry stars such as Nas, Methodman and Joey Bada$$. This album does not shy from Statik’s infamous boom-bap style and even dabbles with some instrumentals including keyboard and the flute. The 5th song on the album, ‘Time’ is one that sticks out at me the most, featuring one of the hottest young rappers in the game, Jack Harlow. This fresh-faced rapper, singer and songwriter grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He began rapping at the ripe age of 12 and would use a guitar hero microphone to record songs on his laptop. Harlow had a similar determination for his lifelong dream and in August of 2018 released his major label debut mixtape ‘Loose’. Gaining immediate recognition, it was nominated for Best Mixtape at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards. In 2020, Harlow stunned the world with his rap single ‘Whats Poppin’. The music video has surpassed 100 million views on YouTube and the song has over 400 million streams on Spotify. The remix featuring DaBaby, Tory Lanez and Lil Wayne hit #2 on U.S. Billboard’s Hot 100 List. Harlow has since been nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Performance Harlow is a force to be reckoned with and teamed up with iconic hip hop producer Statik Selektah, ‘Time’ is an incredible mash of styles.
Statik’s sickening beat paired with Harlow’s lyrics that can only be described as contemporary poetry, give us a unique song about time and enjoying how much of it we have and not wasting any of it. Total ‘Here Today / Gone Tomorrow’ vibes. Considering the paramount theme of the hip hop single, this was not a song that could have gone without a video. In December 2020, they released a professionally animated lyric video for the song. The illustrations in this video are so incredibly detailed, it is jaw dropping.
The music video begins with two hyper realistic illustrations of both Statik and Harlow’s head. The resemblance is uncanny with Statik’s signature baseball cap look and glasses, as well as Harlow’s dreamy curly locks and piercing blue eyes. The heads are animated, mouthing the words while they float on the screen in front of colorful flashing numbers in the background. This background visual is an ongoing element in the high-quality lyric video, creatively tying into the time-related theme of the single. Throughout the video we see more animated time references including a calendar with dropping pages, rotating clocks, stop watches and wrist watches as well as a clever hourglass.
These illustrations are all so eye catching and ingenious with how they move around the screen. Whether they are spinning around in a circle or sliding up from all angles of the screen, there is always something new to see. Harlow’s lyrics are all about word play and my favorite representation of this literary technique was when he sings “Time keeps slipping, gotta watch the way I use it.” The viewer sees a digital wristwatch with the lyrics highlighted on it. One of the benefits of a professionally produced lyric video is the ability to visually present these unique techniques and ideas to the artist’s fans in a fun and creative way. An example of utilizing a powerful visual to match the lyrics would be when Statik and Harlow honor their late friend Mac Miller and what a great person he was. To represent this, the video shows a similar hyper realistic illustration of Mac with a halo over his head. The lyrics flow effortlessly throughout the video, weaving in and around the optical mastery. I love how they are displayed at times, like instead of the time on a watch or an alarm clock.
The digital illustrations in the video, the unique way the lyrics are displayed, and the funky color palette all come together to produce a strikingly high-quality lyric video. The music industry is ever changing, and lyric videos are an essential new element. Statik and Harlow prove through this track though that spoken word, hip hop and art is timeless and to be honest, I’m hoping for some more videos like this, in fact, a lot of them.
Check out Statik Selektah’s video ‘Time’ featuring Jack Harlow here: