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Watch It: Talib Kweli’s Apocalyptic Video

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On Talib Kweli’s new album Gutter Rainbows, the brainy rapper says he got big inspiration from Holden Caulfield, the angst-ridden anti-hero from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Kweli has just released a video for the lead single “Cold Rain,” and the dark, cinematic landscape matches Caulfield’s bleak worldview. Watch below.

In the clip, Kweli (armed with a backpack carrying canned goods and his favorite book) wanders around a bombed-out, apocalyptic landscape – a metaphor for the track’s indictment of superficial cultural trends like hash tags, auto-tune and “ghetto fab” in a time of global unrest and war. “Still standing right here,” he raps over lush pianos and a tricked-out beat. “Ain’t goin’ nowhere!”

What do you think of Kweli’s video? Sound off in the comments.

Watch Talib Kweli’s video for “Cold Rain”: