The Knux ‘Run’ with Kid Cudi release new video

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In recent months, there’s been a noticeable influx in rap and R&B songs devoted to the sleazy side of the cosmopolitan party scene. Danny Brown’s recent ‘XXX’ was a near perfect distillation of amphetamines, heart palpitations and paranoia brought out by a decade of nonstop stimulation, while Toronto’s the Weeknd has carved a career out of louche come-ons deployed toward a series of nondescript females.

Like the skinny jeans they were lambasted for until such gear became standard issue, the Knux can claim to be first on the trend. Hip-hop has long since assimilated into the realm of multicultural ‘party music’; the Knux’s 2007 ‘Remind Me in Three Days’ was one of the first records that cataloged the pros and cons of the fast life.

Of course, the world of champagne and Bentleys had been intricately depicted by the likes of Jay-Z and the Bad Boy artists, but the Knux aimed to show a darker, less glamorous but still glitzy side. And though at times they erred on the side of glorification, it was a fully fleshed portrait of what it’s like to descend into the psychic purgatory and heavy drugs of a night out in the greater SBE world.

Accordingly, the video for ‘Run,’ the Kid Cudi-aided latest single from the forthcoming ‘Eraser,’ taps into the same vein. Superficially a day in the life of a glamorous New York City model, the BBGun-directed clip depicts a young girl waking up face-down on a couch, rushing to meet with a sleazy fashion photographer, then spending the rest of her day engaging in various white-lined and illicit activities. The blithe and insatiable melody belies the darker undertones, and though it’s a far cry from the grittier sound of their first record, it’s far catchier and more clever than LMFAO, Pitbull or any of the Top 40-minded Power 106 staples.

You can find the video easily enough out there in cyber-land. Perhaps it won’t surprise you to learn that it contains enough nudity to earn it a place in the Showtime prime-time lineup.

ALSO:

The Knux Return (Finally) with new single, ‘She’s So Up’

Detroit Rapper Danny Brown on ‘Hawaiian Snow,’ signing to G-Unit

Album Review: Kid Cudi-’Man on the Moon’

-- Jeff Weiss