Run the Jewels offer a joyful vision of the future filled with burning piles of cash and big group dance numbers in the new video for “Ooh La La.”
The video was directed by Brian and Vanessa Beletic, and in a statement, RTJ said: “This video is a fantasy of waking up on a day that there is no monetary system, no dividing line, no false construct to tell our fellow man that they are less or more than anyone else. Not that people are without, but that the whole meaning of money has vanished. That we have somehow solved our self-created caste system and can now start fresh with love, hope and celebration. It’s a dream of humanity’s V-DAY… and the party we know would pop off.”
The festivities in the clip capture that glee as Run the Jewels’ El-P and Killer Mike take to the streets with hordes of others, popping champagne bottles and emptying their wallets of cash and credit cards into a giant bonfire.
The clip also features cameo appearances from Nice and Smooth’s Greg Nice (whose verse on the 1992 Gang Starr classic “DWYCK” provides the core sample of “Ooh La La”), DJ Premier, who scratches on the track, and — because no revolutionary blowout would be complete without him — Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha. (Run the Jewels added that the “Ooh La La” video was filmed in early March before lockdown orders were enacted to stem the spread of COVID-19.)
“Ooh La La” and another previously released cut, “The Yankee and the Brave,” will appear on Run the Jewels’ upcoming album, Run the Jewels 4, although a release date has yet to be announced.
The group was supposed to open for Rage Against the Machine on their 2020 reunion tour, but the first half of that trek was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, RTJ launched a new T-shirt line to raise money for their touring crew, which is out of work because of the concert cancelations.
