Absurdism in rap videos (not to mention rap at large) rears its head on a fairly rare basis, with a Tyler, the Creator or, in a bygone era, an Eminem video providing a wholly expected level of insanity and illogic. Rarely do absurd visuals accompany songs that might otherwise be considered serious, or, at very least, partially so.
ForteBowie‘s “Gucci Mayne” features the rapper/singer sporting a Star Wars Clone Trooper mask and surrounding himself with subservient women, injecting an element of comedy and confusion into an otherwise stock situation. This visual treatment lends the song–Bowie’s surprisingly catchy single centered around the name of a certain Alabaman rapper–a fittingly light air, transforming what could be a rote exercise in hip-hop/R&B hybrids into a warmly amusing meditation on heartbreak.
