Brow Beat

Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar’s New Video Is Somehow Both Creepy and Joyful

One of my favorite new songs is Flying Lotus’ jazz-infused “Never Catch Me,” featuring the ever-contemplative rap stylings of Kendrick Lamar. As Dee Lockett wrote in Slate last month, “FlyLo creates a backdrop of frenetic percussion, smooth piano, and just the right touch of bass that allows Kendrick’s typically introspective words to flourish.”

The simultaneously kinetic and thoughtful song has been matched with an equally kinetic and thoughtful video, in which a young boy and girl “awake” from their caskets in the middle of their funeral service. The images teeter between macabre and ebullient as the children dance down the church aisle in front of unknowing, mournful funeral attendees; they then run off and continue dancing joyfully throughout their neighborhood. Coupled with Lamar’s morbid lyrics (“Life and death is no mystery and I wanna taste it”) and the video’s final act, the whole thing makes for a hauntingly cheerful experience.

Flying Lotus’ upcoming album is fittingly titled You’re Dead!