"They're not even blinking. The camera man had to be shook. I would've been!"
One underdiscussed aspect that blasted "Rascal" immediately into the upper-tier of music video masterworks is its supposed juxtaposition.
That's just the thing though: Is there a juxtaposition? Or has RMR achieved the most accurate sound/visual fusion of the post "Old Town Road" era?
"Rascal" as a track is still among the hardest shit of the past few years. He's a naturally gifted singer and lyricist, and the track is fire. Yes, we know the music is lifted from Rascal Flatts (who in turn lifted the song from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), which plays a huge part in its triumphant aura: An average red state power-country radio listener might not realize what they're hearing at first, which is exactly the point.
But the music is only about 40% of what cemeted RMR's legacy. Without the visual, it could still be easily misinterpreted as a parody. It's all in the details: the uzis, the skimasks, the grillz. By June, the fusion was unbreakable; meanwhile, "Fuck 12" graffiti quickly spread across the entire country. We're honestly shocked it didn't appear on more blogs' end-of-year lists, since it's canonization feels imminent and immediate regardless. A track/video combination like this has no need for blog approval.
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