VIDEO REVIEW: PRNDL/ DR. CALL BY ALFRED.
Alfred. achieves avant-garde status with PRNDL/DR. CALL. The video has dramatic textures and the music highlights their own artistic duality. Both ruthless and compassionate, this visual hammers home what folks will come to understand about Alfred’s art.
“PRNDL/ DR. CALL,” the fourth track on One Trick Pony, infuses two anthems. There is a venom in Alfred.’s voice on the PRNDL half. Their flow is consistent. Their raps are concentrated.
“I’m sweating because my rent’s due
I’m tryna get out Virginia
I think of Misdemeanor Elliot
Everytime I spit it”
- ”PRNDL/DR. CALL “
The vocals sting like lemon juice on Clwdwlkr’s beats, the whole bit is lit. From bratty ad-libs to the whining light-saber sounding patterns in the instrumental… it’s all decadent discord.
The madness carries on in the visual. There is Alfred. both rapping and crying. Their lips make pools of saliva from which they blow wet kisses. And of course there are scenes bathed in blood-red lights, casting the Aries emcee in a villain likeness.
After a tearful condemnation of the collective consciousness, the music video pivots into an ethereal plane. Alfred.’s raps are just as matter-of-fact, yet they hit a little softer on the DR. CALL half.
“I don’t want to sleep, I don’t want to wake.
Always caught in inbetween”
- ”PRNDL/DR. CALL”
Clwdwlkr’s beats slows into a tranquility that Alfred. dismantles piece by piece. Their raps sound more patient. The visuals and lyrics highlight that this flow is merely a show of restraint, though.
Alfred. bounces around whimsically, not patiently. Dressed like a happy child in a yellow raincoat, Alfred. Breaks up the stale brick background. And if that wasn’t enough, the candor they give in the words open up a floodgate of emotions:
“My body and I are barely acquaintances.
Every night I watch my skin eat itself to remind me that I could feel.
And every morning I witness the villain I became through the dark.
If I could leave the shell of myself without the help of death, I would.”
“PRNDL/ DR. CALL” gives us artfully crafted title cards, coarse language sitting atop organized rhythms and beauty. Not airbrushed beauty but natural beauty- where discord meets delicate.