Aesop Rock and Blockhead have released a cinematic new music video for their track, “Flamingo Pink.” The track was on Aesop Rock and Blockhead’s recently released project, Garbology. It was the duo’s first full length collaboration after decades of features on each other’s projects. The music video for “Flamingo Pink” was directed by Rob Shaw.

The beat on “Flamingo Pink” starts off with a dirty, low piano, a slightly off beat drum rhythm to give the track movement and a menacing, high-octave piano melody that’s infectious. The beat is taken out for a moment before it drops back in, introducing a new low-octave piano melody that Aesop Rock smoothly washes his words over. His flow from the beginning till the end is effortless and never falters. In the hook, Aesop Rock’s vocals are layered and are panned to either side of the stereo as he sings, “Good god damn, good god damn, every idol I ever met is a con man.” 

The video sees Rock rapping the song as a shadow on the wall while a man is picking up random garbage on the street, turning them into some sort of art installation. “Garbology is defined as the study of the material discarded by a society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns,” explains Aesop. “I find a lot of parallels between that and the idea of picking up the pieces after a loss or period of intense unrest, and seeing what’s really there.” And in the video, he is picking up pieces of material discarded by society.

When reflecting on his 2020, Rock recalled, “The world got real weird during those months. I knew at some point I had to get back to making something. Make a beat. Draw a picture. Write. Just go.” Back in October, Aesop Rock was on Atmosphere’s track with MF DOOM, “Barcade.” That video was also directed by Rob Shaw, but it was much different. The video was an action-packed animated thriller where each rapper is depicted as their own 90’s console-inspired video game boss character.

Photo Credit: Brett Padelford