DAILY FIX: Luggage, “Chemicals”

RVA hip-hop veterans Luggage have been steadily increasing their profile over the past year or so, playing shows regularly and releasing videos in anticipation of their new album, Sex Drugs & Rap. Now, with the release of the album just around the corner (though we still haven’t heard an exact date… don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted), they’ve released a video for their latest single from the album, “Chemicals.”

RVA hip-hop veterans Luggage have been steadily increasing their profile over the past year or so, playing shows regularly and releasing videos in anticipation of their new album, Sex Drugs & Rap. Now, with the release of the album just around the corner (though we still haven’t heard an exact date… don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted), they’ve released a video for their latest single from the album, “Chemicals.” The video is based around concepts from the TV show Breaking Bad, but instead of cooking meth, Luggage MCs Ben FM and Oxen Johnson appear to be manufacturing hip-hop itself, with the help of some female assistants clad in aprons, safety goggles, and not much else. The lyrics start with drug references and move into stranger arenas, such as aliens, conspiracy theories, and other X-Files type subject matter. “Our crop circles are covered in drug residue,” Oxen Johnson says at the end of the first verse, and said line gets the general idea across in fine fashion. At one point in the video, the two of them throw a bunch of “inspirational material”–Playboy mags, blunts, a Raiders jacket, and in a particularly RVA touch, a can of PBR–into a steaming barrel, and if you watch closely, you’ll see a copy of RVA #7, open to our interview with Luggage, get thrown into the mix. These guys are creating a good mix of cerebral, funky, and fun hip-hop music, and with this Breaking Bad-inspired video, director Alex Fuller does a great job of capturing Luggage’s multi-faceted sensibility. [And be sure to check out the graphics in the video, designed by our own Bryan Woodland!]