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BROCKHAMPTON Wilds Out In '1998 Truman' Video

Like stretched out T-shirt collar, a sweaty, spastic mosh pit or just a little dirt under your fingernails, it's BROCKHAMPTON's honest imperfections that keep its visuals so exhilarating. Like much of the band's media, the new video for its single "1998 Truman" shows off its self-sufficient DIY spirit, but it's clear the production budget got a bump in the right direction. The Kevin Abstract-directed vid, presented in widescreen with pixelated censors and protruding fish-eye lenses, highlights the personalities of certain members with a running theme of chaos and spontaneity as forms of freedom.

In the track referencing the main character of the 1998 Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show, Kevin Abstract and Meryln hold down the bridge and chorus about losing free will in exchange for fame. A purple-haired Joba serves up his opening verse like a kid on a motor-mouthed sugar high, shots of Matt Champion switch between shots of inviting close-ups and skateboarding wipe-outs and Dom McLennon has a solo dance party against an all-white backdrop.

"Nowadays everybody wanna talk / They forgot how to listen / 'Til the prophets arisen / We mix new edition with nuclear fission," Dom raps in the third verse.

The hip-hop boy band has made good use of its momentum since signing to RCA Records in March 2018. "1998 Truman," first premiered on the group's new Beats 1 Radio show, follows up a similarly shot video for the song "1999 Wildfire," and the single "Tonya," which was debuted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last month. All three new tracks are expected to be on the collective's upcoming album the best years of our lives.

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Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.