CD Review: Clipping – “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” (2020)

To say the least, living in a Post-Hamilton world has presented quite an interesting culture shift. It isn’t just in how the stage has evolved to include an even wider array of stories, bringing a younger generation to the theater in droves. It isn’t just that Lin-Manuel Miranda has become one of the most in-demand composers of the 21st century, likely to produce some of the most timeless work of his generation. With 2020 marking many more moments of myth-making for the cast and crew of the Tony-winning juggernaut, including We Are Freestyle Love Supreme (2020) and Hamilton (2020), it’s important to realize that even among the massive achievements is the careers whose platforms have been elevated, there’s still those weird origins.

Next to Miranda, the actor whose career has had the most noteworthy rise in the past five years is Daveed Diggs. Along with currently starring in TWO TV series (Snowpiercer, The Good Lord Bird), he’s had a decent film career that recently had a noteworthy turn with Blindspotting (2018), which found him writing a personal screenplay that produced one of the most compelling race relations dramas of the past few years. It feels urgent without having to be directly an issues movie. It’s the type of brief resume that convinces you that this Tony-winner has chances to become an even bigger star.

But, the most fun note in his entire career is what he was doing before Hamilton, when he was a struggling musician. You may be familiar with it, especially if you were on TikTok this past summer. Before Clipping was slang for “losing the playoffs after a 3-1 lead,” it was Diggs’ experimental hip-hop group that has become a best-kept secret. With “Chapter 319,” Clipping gained traction with a song about political activism, even arguing that the president was a white supremacist (full stop). There was an urgency and anyone who has heard him in Hamilton won’t be surprised with how nauseating his gifts as a rapper are. He can get on a tear that will make you cross-eyed. Sometimes you can’t even figure out what he’s saying, but he’s doing it very well.

Then again, nothing really could prepare me for discovering the work of Clipping because they are far crazier than any conventional reason would have you believe. “Chapter 319” may have the same DNA as every song on “Visions of Bodies Being Burned,” but even that feels like a tangent. What follows is a dive into something more perverse, exploring urban legends in grisly detail, finding Diggs spinning words that capture the madness of humanity being perfectly complemented by backing tracks that sound like they’re falling apart. There are points that reward listening through headphones, making every explosive boom of the distorted bass shake the listener, throwing them on edge. Other times the melody will be so overwhelming that it may hurt your ears. Whatever the case may be, the music involves the listener, not allowing any distractions, if just because of how overactive the production is.

It should be noted that this is a spiritual sequel to “There Existed an Addiction to Blood” which found Clipping having too many songs to release at once. While the initial plan was to release an additional album months later, they postponed it to Halloween 2020 because of COVID-19. Also, if you listen for even a minute, you’ll understand that this is an album best enjoyed in the height of the spooky season, creating urban myths with an urban style that is such a delightful way to send shivers down your spine. Gone are the kooky backing tracks full of ghosts and goblins. In its place is the sound of a mind slowly falling apart, staring into a void that is more impressionistic. Diggs will be your guide through this Night Gallery, and you can do a whole lot worse.

What is important to note about Diggs’ approach to these songs is that they’re stories and he intends to make them as expertly structured as possible. There may be social commentary buried inside, providing significance for why these ideas have continued to resonate with audiences. On “Say the Name,” he recalls the myth of Candyman (1992), himself symbolic of negative urban stereotypes and the idea that there’s something more complicated going on. It’s one of the few songs that feel like they commit to the subtext, commenting on drugs and unwanted pregnancies in the ghetto. He jokes “What the hook gon’ be?” in reference to his hooked hands, finding humor in the darkness. It’s also a reference to a song by Murphy Lee, showing how he’s blending worlds of horror with street culture.

It continues with “’96 Neve Campbell,” a reference to Scream (1996), and the commentary on the final girl trope. There’s an underlying sense of survival against these horrifying, suppressing forces. As the instruments begin to crumble in, the distortion and clanging begin to take lead. There’s a fun back and forth on here between Diggs and guests Cam & China, capturing secret feminism this time around, showing strong women who are ready to take down evil and stand strong. While this is a horror album, it feels like it’s designed to reflect social commentary on an America changing, not wanting to be killed off willy nilly anymore:

Do you like scary movies? What's your favorite?

That phone sex the problem you should stay with

The pillow talking can get you carted away quick

You murder artists come harder and shouldn't say shit

Unless you ready to back it up why you play with

The fairer sex fairly quick, get your brain split

Full sets stuck in your chest with grace

'96 Neve Campbell, the TV set on your face, shit

It should be noted that one of the highs and lows of dealing with Clipping’s album is how much it often comes across as direct commentary on movies that Diggs probably obsessed about as a kid. This is your typical horror set-up, and the final line here references a scene late in the film. Without the subtext, it’s just recapping the plot in ways that are fun, but not particularly exciting. With the subtext, it becomes a bit more compelling but barely. Diggs brings enough ferocity to make for a fun song, but what is being said that feels essential? He’s cribbing his work from other people, turning it often into a literal A to B story that, frankly, isn’t always that enjoyable.

The only redemption is that some of this feels like an academic exercise, finding new ways to recap movies. Much like later song “Eaten Alive,” this feels like Diggs bragging about how awesome his movie collection is. These are dissertations on what real themes can be put into horror movies, and they’re fine. You can get through “Say the Name” and “’96 Neve Campbell” and enjoy the effort that goes into making the song. However, the album’s lack of progression from song to song, or that there’s any real standout of an original idea makes this feel like a compilation of B-Sides. It’s pretty apt when you stop and think about it.

Things begin to pick up with songs like “Make Them Dead” and “She Bad,” which borrow more ideas than direct plot from these films. Again, there’s something encouraging about the perseverance of the protagonists, especially as he creates these vivid images. Mixing a few trap melodies, he makes “She Bad” into something manic and enjoyable, reflecting on the ancient and creaky nature of the forest with:

You ride squad (Squad) to the coven

(You got jokes?) Got all the phones running

But no bars up on the hillside long forgotten by the future

And the jokes flow real easy and the whiskey is a booster

It's 200 years of rust on the gate

It's an unrelenting crunch underfoot, the leaves deep

The autumn left elm skeletons still alive, skin and bone

Lumino for the new approaching blood remarking, "How beautiful"

And the old cabin maintains a dilapidated charm, they call it rustic

Clothesline hanging across the yard, probably shouldn't trust it

As mentioned, this album is mostly great if you’re looking for something atmospheric, able to be consumed by the overwhelming production and feel paranoid about every shifting beat. The distorting bass, the way that the wavy electronic melodies decay, with Diggs’ monotone rap-style fluctuating like a melodic form of jump scares. Everything is exciting and alive on this album, and it especially shines through on the various interludes, such as “Wytchboard” that uses an Ouija Board to reflect the spirituality breaking through, ready to attack.

The others are more interpretive, including “Invocation” which is played at 666.0 Hz. (a play on the sign of the devil). It’s just a high-pitched track that runs about a minute, but it feels like there’s something being summoned. Meanwhile “Drove” is cryptic, finding sheep yelling while motor sounds play underneath. It’s atmospheric, but people wanting reason may have to prod Clipping for further answers. It’s the least distorted of the tracks, but there has to be something underneath.

Continuing the journey into narratives is a dead cop epic called “Body for the Pile” which details three grisly murders. They are just bodies for the pile, suggesting their own mortality and questioning whether or not they had any true value in solving crimes. Considering that he’s already made it clear that he is sympathetic towards the lower class surviving at all costs, it makes sense that he would comment on the turmoil and unpleasantness in this form. He’s not exactly arguing against police, but that their lives are no different from the others who may have died throughout the album. For a musical compilation, there’s a lot of demons and dead bodies to be found here.

It all ends with a music piece called “Secret Piece.” Live “Drove,’ it’s unassuming. According to Genius, it’s a song where each contributor plays one note for three minutes, capturing a strange unity. It gets to go for as long as it needs to. 

That may be what’s the most enjoyable part of Clipping as a group. They feel like they’re pushing boundaries and asking what constitutes music. Can the sound of pots and pans being jangled together possibly be captivating music? More than the lyrics, the orchestrations here are so wild and shocking that it feels futuristic, like a melodic murdering of the listener. You’re wandering around, feeling your constitution drop out. Everything is falling apart and soon you will cease to exist. With that in mind, I give credos to the band on this excellent project.

The thing is that Diggs is very talented and the rhymes can be quite inventive. However, this feels less like immersive stories that feel lived in and more like a professor recalling stories that he feels we need to know. It’s true that he has the gift of finding the humanity and subtext of these in such a way that draws you in, but collectively “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” feels redundant and unable to capture its horrifying concept in full. 

With all of this said, I am not all that familiar with the rest of Clipping’s music. I want to believe that it’s closer to “Chapter 319” than this, if just because I can feel their vitality when actually tackling organic concepts. Most of the songs on their 2020 album simply feel like ideas. They experiment with sonic landscapes and create new ways for us to interpret nightmares. I love the idea of Clipping more than their final product. I still respect them, but I want to believe that “There Existed an Addiction to Blood” feels more formed, less like a gimmick record. This is worth checking out if you want some quick shots of horror, but I don’t feel they’re particularly shocking and lasting songs.