RiFF RaFF throws out a lot of spectacularly absurd self-comparisons in “Chop Another Rock,” which arrived last night with an equally over-the-top video. “Rap game Warren Moon,” the Houston-repping rapper declares at one point. “Rap game Christian Laettner,” he offers a few lines later. But an image of a shirtless Chief Keef from the Chicago MC’s “Love Sosa” video that pops up earlier in the video might be the more relevant comparison here.
Both RiFF RaFF and Keef are Internet-born rap stars, of course, but these days that’s the rule, not the exception. More significantly, the gothic trap-rap backing here and the brusque call-and-response ad libs suggest a caricatured version of Chicago rap breakthroughs like Keef’s “I Don’t Like,” and the clip even begins with Keef-style footage of the artist in a living room. Rather than staying in rap mode on the choruses though, RiFF RaFF opts for an equally exaggerated R&B crooner mode: “Should I pop another pill?” he asks, again and again.
Directed by Nicholaus Goossen, who worked with RiFF RaFF before in a video for the rapper’s Diplo-affiliated Three Loco trio, the video itself swiftly renders such questions rhetorical. RiFF RaFF shows off more than one LMFAO-worthy outfit, and the clip is heavy with product placements, sometimes for products that seem unlikely to pay for hip-hop endorsements: Modelo and Four Loko, sure, but Conair curling irons? Eventually RiFF RaFF says let there be light sabers, and then there are light sabers. And whatever else this is, we can’t deny it’s wildly entertaining.
