The battle rap veteran and part of the Swollen Members crew, Madchild recently visited India and shot a couple of videos for his ‘The Darkest Hour’ tape. The most recent drop titled ‘Drama’ shows Madchild as a warrior who isn’t a fan of drama.
The video shot in India is directed by DigiFakeer with Poetik Justis being the lead for the project. As a matter of fact, the visuals are a treat and each frame screams professionalism. Also, the music video featured an action sequence where Madchild was dressed as an Indian warrior. The video by Revolt Art Technology definitely takes the entire project to a different level.
“God almighty, oddity that isn’t thought of lightly, Frightening God of thunder riding down a rod of lightning” – Madchild
Madchild is a legend and his lyricism is known to be the tightest, packed with a lot of punches. Furthermore, the lyricism and flow portrayed in ‘Drama’ just goes to show the level of versatility that Madchild carries. Revisit Madchild’s Black & White by clicking here.
“I felt like meeting and working with one of the pioneers of hip hop was very eye opening and it gave us a different perspective about what needs to be done in hip hop all over the world. Also, the freestyle sessions that we had gave us an insight into his lyrics dexterity. It was fun having him over in India, just the process of adjusting him into our culture and our version of hip hop was insightful for both of us,” stated Poetik Justis, who lead the whole project.
We got in touch with team RAT to know more about how this project took place. Here’s what they said –
1. How did this collaboration take place?
The collaboration happened because of Poetik Justis who was approached by Punit Dhesi, Music Video director from team Madchild. Poetik referred us to handle the line production for the team here in India because of our Production expertise.
2. The music video looks quite abstract, is there a hidden message behind the storyline?
In RAT we push ourselves consciously to break the format of videos that are produced in the industry. I (Digifakeer) stuck to the same philosophy with Madchild’s Drama video. Making an abstract video for the international audience could have been risky, as you may never know how it is interpreted in the west. I wouldn’t call the video abstract because the story is made easy to understand. The perception of India internationally is stereotyped, which all of us are not really proud of. The ancient warriors according to me were the gangsters of their time. The time they were in and the way they used to function is similar to the gangsters in the current time.
This video is of the underground from different Eras, a Maratha warrior from the 1600s, a bandit from the 1800s and a mercenary deployed to India in the early 1900s. One is preparing for a fight, bandit is practising for a fight and as climax, the mercenary in a fight, winning dramatically thus justifying the concept. I would call this video, very filmy, where you know what the end would be, but its fun to watch the hero win. Madchild represents the LA underground and has a “G” vibe, so why not show him in different avatars of a gangster.
3. How was the experience working with an international artist like Madchild. How do you reckon his experience was working with your team?
Madchild is a legend in the western underground, so it was an experience which gave RAT a very new perspective. Throughout the shoot, I kept on telling him that I go experimental and that I like putting story-lines in any video I do, and he was pretty open to it. Right from costumes to acting out the part, Madchild was excited and supportive throughout. That drove us to push even us more. He is not that of a Madchild, you know, he is more like a sorted Adult. Furthermore, team Madchild was happy to have had a productive week here in India. They left India with varied experiences and joy of getting what they had come here for.
4. Finally, Are there more projects like these in store for RAT?
Yes, we have quite a few, we have planned bigger projects with bigger timelines since short term projects for now is not our goal.. Our focus now is to build on the Indian talent potential before we head toward the international market.