I love rap videos for what they are – visual tales of success and its rewards – the women, the jewelry, the money, and the cars. The visual for Atmosphere’s new single, “Clocked,” features a whip - a brand-new metallic grey SUV, but not in the traditional sense. Slowly feeding the streets - Atmosphere leads their Word? Side B maxi-single with an eerie time-warping video for “Clocked,” a single off their soon-to-be-released album, Word? As always, they continue to push the bounds on what we think of as conventional hip-hop and deliver something a little different.
Sewn together by the team over at 1Light Films, the video for “Clocked” tells a story about the concept of time as Ant drives a brand-new clean SUV through Slug’s car wash. As the SUV makes its way through the car wash, Slug raps, “Make time to have a good time if you can’t find time you might have to buy time, take a time out before you’re all outta time, it’s about time, don’t be wastin’ my time”. The visual effect in between cuts is reminiscent of the details found in the opening credits of the shows Dexter and True Blood. It’s vintage film hones in on the details of soap scum/bubbles and what appears to be rust or… blood as it drips off the vehicle. Slug directs Ant out of the car wash. As Ant drives out, he notices he’s no longer in a brand-new clean SUV but rather in a rusty old beater. A confused Ant reviews the damage but drives anyway as Slug smirks and takes a seat.
Atmosphere's always been breaking genre norms and this single/video is no different. You could choose to decipher lyrics. You could choose to focus on the concept of a time-warp of a car wash. You also must consider maybe this is just a joke Atmosphere is playing on the audience to confuse us. Who knows? Watch above and decide for yourself.
- Kris Kuganathan