videology

Run the Jewels’ New Video Beautifully Exposes the ‘Futility’ of Police Brutality

Few in hip-hop have been more vocal about police injustice than Run the Jewels. Killer Mike spent the tail-end of 2014 and into 2015 speaking out against crimes against humanity in the wake of the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. That rage and emotional exhaustion over a seemingly winless battle became the centerpiece of their sophomore album, released last year, and it also frames the video for the tempestuous “Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck),” featuring Zack de la Rocha. Selma’s Keith Stanfield and Boardwalk Empire’s Shea Whigham star as a young black man and a cop engaged in a gritty, at times dancelike physical fight that punches a lot deeper than their jaws. What results of their war is a moving commentary on what Mike perfectly sums up as “the futile and exhausting existence of a purgatory-like law enforcement system.”

RTJ’s New Video Sheds Light on Police Brutality