cLOUDDEAD were an experimental hip-hop group from Cincinnati, Ohio, United … Read Full Bio ↴cLOUDDEAD were an experimental hip-hop group from Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, consisting of musicians Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why? (Yoni Wolf), and Odd Nosdam (David Madson). Generally Drucker and Wolf provide the group's vocals while Madson produces the music. Occasionally Madson's vocals can be heard, while Drucker and Wolf provide music, especially for the group's second album.

The group's name comes from a nonsensical knock-knock joke Drucker's sister told him when she was 6 years old. The joke runs like this:

"Knock-knock"
"Who's there?"
"Cloud-dead"...

But no-one remembers the punchline.

cLOUDDEAD's sound is notoriously hard to define, and although it is undoubtedly grounded in 'traditional' hip-hop, influences as varied as electronica, psychedelic music and indie rock can be heard. Because of this non-traditional take on hip-hop, more conservative corners of the rap community have labeled cLOUDDEAD as "smartarse surrealism" - with some rejecting the notion that the group can be classed as hip-hop at all, ignoring Doseone's request to 'just call it hip hop.'

cLOUDDEAD's first six 10" EPs were compiled in 2001 as a self-titled compilation album. The band's subsequent discography includes a further two 10" EPs, the single "Dead Dogs Two" and the album Ten. Printed on the sleeve of "Dead Dogs Two" is "this is clouddead number 9 of ten", indicating that as of Ten, cLOUDDEAD, as a group, have finished making music.

As of 2009 cLOUDDEAD came together under the name again to record a track on Themselves newest mixtape "theFREEhoudini" performing the song "Rapping 4 Money".

Rifle Eyes
cLOUDDEAD Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

A murder of mosquitoes, and moths, and gnats
Ravage the florescent flickering ribs of a motel lot flood light.
Their frantic trajectories perfectly sketching insane in it's halogen corona.
No collision... no drinking of bulbs at long last...
Just a panicked moon drove dance they bang their insect eyes and mind at in the dark.

Note: it takes an extended stay
America's common black self cleaning line of ants

Approximately 1&2/3rd's hours to completely excavate
The fresh kill carcass of a large New Orleans cricket.

Point: minnows have teeth in their throats… (x3)

Thrice we passed this truck all packed with pigs...
This truck is always packed with pigs.
You can not tell nor ask a pear tree
That it might only have the bird's nests happen to its branches.

Have you ever marveled through the pretty pith of your turned around eye
At the bug blood gut modern art on the fender of your country crossing rental van?

It then becomes self evident
That nature is responsible...
To peel deer from desert fun...
To sleep through vulture mouths...
It's femur like a chopstick through the paper.

Nightcrawlers all dried up on the summer sun sidewalk.
An ant with a little bit of leaf looks like an ant with an frican mask.
The red raw salmon steak in the gas station urinal.
A full feathered dead pigeon with its entire skull exposed.

A single long stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers.

A spider spitting web on a styrofoam snowman's head.
Car salesmen asleep in their cars on lunch-break under the highway onramp.
The x-ray of someone's tumored skull left to scream doom from the gutter
With all the other preventative waste, no name no face.

All the oil drills on some sick sedated rhythmic robot.
Rape mode like brain-washed flies at a carcass.
The highway shoulder dead dog's fly devoured eyeballs,
As garnish to a four lane state road.
And all the southern cali orange trucks headed to somewhere there's winter.

One armed men changing tires in the shoulder
For pretty ladies and their well dressed daughters;
Engine oil boiling, undercarriage eaten by a billion ants of rust,
Bacteria gang-banging in the window cracks.

A single long stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers.

Overall Meaning

The song Rifle Eyes by cLOUDDEAD paints a vivid portrayal of nature and its various elements, ranging from mosquitoes to ants to pigs, and how they deviate from their natural habitats to form unusual images that the singer marvels at. The opening lines describe the chaotic paths of mosquitoes and gnats around a motel floodlight, creating a surreal image that seems insane in the halogen corona. The song then shifts its focus towards ants excavating the fresh kill carcass of a cricket, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that nature bears the responsibility for everything, even peeling deer from the desert and sleeping through vulture mouths.

The rest of the lyrics showcase various more abstract imagery, such as a single long-stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers, oil drills on a rhythmic robot, and a spider spitting web on a Styrofoam snowman's head. These seemingly unrelated elements come together to form a bizarre and surreal image, symbolizing the beauty in the unexpected and the overlooked. The repeated line of "a single long stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers" ties back the various elements explored in the lyrics, as if to say that even amidst the chaos, there is still something beautiful to be found.

Line by Line Meaning

A murder of mosquitoes, and moths, and gnats
Various insects like mosquitoes, moths, and gnats swarm around aimlessly.

Ravage the florescent flickering ribs of a motel lot flood light.
The insects are attacking the light emanating from the motel light and are causing it flicker.

Their frantic trajectories perfectly sketching insane in it's halogen corona.
The erratic movements of the insects create a pattern that looks frenzied under the motel light.

No collision... no drinking of bulbs at long last...
Despite buzzing around the lights, the insects do not actually collide with or drink from the bulbs in the light.

Just a panicked moon drove dance they bang their insect eyes and mind at in the dark.
The insects are aimlessly moving around in the dark and banging their eyes and minds in confusion.

Note: it takes an extended stay
This verse serves as an interlude or commentary between the two parts of the song.

America's common black self cleaning line of ants
A group of ants in America cleaning themselves and following a pattern.

Approximately 1&2/3rd's hours to completely excavate
It takes almost two hours for these ants to completely excavate a fresh kill of a large New Orleans cricket.

The fresh kill carcass of a large New Orleans cricket.
A newly killed cricket in New Orleans being dug up by the ants.

Point: minnows have teeth in their throats… (x3)
Another interlude or commentary that is repeated three times.

Thrice we passed this truck all packed with pigs...
The singer passed by a truck that always seems to be packed with pigs three times.

This truck is always packed with pigs.
A recurring observation about the truck always being packed with pigs.

You can not tell nor ask a pear tree
A pear tree can't answer any questions or communicate in any way about what happens on its branches.

That it might only have the bird's nests happen to its branches.
Birds nesting on the branches of the pear tree is just a natural occurrence.

Have you ever marveled through the pretty pith of your turned around eye
Ever stopped to notice the beauty in everyday things you see when you turn your eye around?

At the bug blood gut modern art on the fender of your country crossing rental van?
Have you noticed the splattered insects on the rental car's fender that look like modern art?

It then becomes self evident
Another interlude that serves as a commentary for the next lines.

That nature is responsible...
It is said that nature is accountable for certain things.

To peel deer from desert fun...
Nature serves the purpose of taking meat off dead deer in desert terrain.

To sleep through vulture mouths...
Dead creatures serve the purpose of providing food for vultures and other scavengers.

It's femur like a chopstick through the paper.
A creature's leg bone is so fragile that it can be snapped like a chopstick by something as simple as a piece of paper.

Nightcrawlers all dried up on the summer sun sidewalk.
Worms are dehydrated and shriveled up on the sun-baked sidewalks in the summer.

An ant with a little bit of leaf looks like an ant with an frican mask.
The leaf carried by the ant looks like a mask worn by people in Africa.

The red raw salmon steak in the gas station urinal.
A piece of red raw salmon steak in a urinal found in a gas station.

A full feathered dead pigeon with its entire skull exposed.
A lifeless pigeon with its skull showing and feathers all over.

A single long stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers.
A single rose is placed between two antlers that have been mounted.

A spider spitting web on a styrofoam snowman's head.
A spider is weaving web on top of a snowman's head made of Styrofoam.

Car salesmen asleep in their cars on lunch-break under the highway onramp.
Salesmen taking lunch breaks in their cars parked under the highway onramp.

The x-ray of someone's tumored skull left to scream doom from the gutter
An X-ray showing a skull with tumors left to scream bad news from the gutter.

With all the other preventative waste, no name no face.
With all the other throwaways that don't have a name or a face.

All the oil drills on some sick sedated rhythmic robot.
Many oil drills are drilling oil out of the earth in a systematic and controlled movement.

Rape mode like brain-washed flies at a carcass.
Creatures are brainlessly going after and attacking a carcass similar to how flies act.

The highway shoulder dead dog's fly devoured eyeballs,
A dog's eyes have been removed by flies on the shoulder of a highway.

As garnish to a four lane state road.
The road and surrounding area serve as a garnish or decoration to the scene.

And all the southern cali orange trucks headed to somewhere there's winter.
Trucks carrying oranges from southern California and heading to a place where there is winter.

One armed men changing tires in the shoulder
Men with one arm are changing tires on the side of the road.

For pretty ladies and their well dressed daughters;
These men are doing this for attractive women and their well-dressed daughters.

Engine oil boiling, undercarriage eaten by a billion ants of rust,
The engine oil is heating up and the rust is being eaten by a billion ants.

Bacteria gang-banging in the window cracks.
Bacteria are multiplying and 'gang-banging' in the cracks of the car's windows.

A single long stemmed rose resting between two mounted antlers.
Once again, a rose is placed between two antlers that have been mounted.

Contributed by Gabriella L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS