clipping. is a rap trio from Los Angeles formed in 2010 by William Hutson (… Read Full Bio ↴clipping. is a rap trio from Los Angeles formed in 2010 by William Hutson (Rale), film soundtrack composer Jonathan Snipes (ex-Captain Ahab) and vocalist Daveed Diggs.
Lyrically, clipping.βs music attempts to reshuffle and repeat accepted rap scenarios, while eliminating a traditional single-point perspective. Diggsβs writing is heavily citational, like a rough-edged collage, gluing together half-glimpsed images and misremembered references, many of which might feel familiar, and some of which assuredly do not. But even while he consumes and regurgitates established styles, his self-erasure is incomplete; Diggsβs dense, often motormouthed flow remains wholly his own.
Individually, the members are known outside of the group for their extra-curricular artistic projects. Diggs is a stage actor, while Snipes composes music for film, and Hutson is an established noise music artist. Snipes and Hutson have collaborated on many projects, including the score to the documentary Room 237, which was released by IFC in 2013.
In February 2013, clipping. released their debut album, Midcity, on their website. The project was created entirely in-house, with the trio writing, producing, engineering, mixing and mastering all of the material themselves. There was no budget, no outside promotion, no hype-machine, no blog or label interest. In fact, clipping. had no expectation that anyone would bother listening to the album, let alone enjoy it. Nevertheless, reactions were largely positiveβ despite the uncompromising nature of the production, and its obfuscatory lyrical contentβ and within five monthβs of Midcityβs release, clipping. signed a deal with Sub Pop Records.
CLPPNG, the bandβs label debut, was written and recorded between February and October of 2013. Highly well-received, CLPPNG is an album that demonstrates the variety of sounds available when the βrulesβ of a genre are willfully questioned.
http://www.itsclippingbitch.com
Lyrically, clipping.βs music attempts to reshuffle and repeat accepted rap scenarios, while eliminating a traditional single-point perspective. Diggsβs writing is heavily citational, like a rough-edged collage, gluing together half-glimpsed images and misremembered references, many of which might feel familiar, and some of which assuredly do not. But even while he consumes and regurgitates established styles, his self-erasure is incomplete; Diggsβs dense, often motormouthed flow remains wholly his own.
Individually, the members are known outside of the group for their extra-curricular artistic projects. Diggs is a stage actor, while Snipes composes music for film, and Hutson is an established noise music artist. Snipes and Hutson have collaborated on many projects, including the score to the documentary Room 237, which was released by IFC in 2013.
In February 2013, clipping. released their debut album, Midcity, on their website. The project was created entirely in-house, with the trio writing, producing, engineering, mixing and mastering all of the material themselves. There was no budget, no outside promotion, no hype-machine, no blog or label interest. In fact, clipping. had no expectation that anyone would bother listening to the album, let alone enjoy it. Nevertheless, reactions were largely positiveβ despite the uncompromising nature of the production, and its obfuscatory lyrical contentβ and within five monthβs of Midcityβs release, clipping. signed a deal with Sub Pop Records.
CLPPNG, the bandβs label debut, was written and recorded between February and October of 2013. Highly well-received, CLPPNG is an album that demonstrates the variety of sounds available when the βrulesβ of a genre are willfully questioned.
http://www.itsclippingbitch.com
The Deep
clipping. Lyrics
Our mothers were pregnant African women
Thrown overboard while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on slave ships
We were born breathing water as we did in the womb
We built our home on the sea floor
Unaware of the two-legged surface dwellers
Until their world came to destroy ours
With cannons, they searched for oil beneath our cities
Their greed and recklessness forced our uprising
Tonight, we remember
Y'all remember how deep it go
Started from the bottom
Y'all remember how deep it go
'Fore y'all had to come back, deep
Y'all remember when it used to be deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
When y'all swim up out yo' mama while y'all mama was asleep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
And y'all remember when y'all had the dance floor lit, dark
No two-step, deep, y'all don't even sweat, deep
As deep as it gets
Dreaming dead asleep and keeping time
Y'all heartbeat, deep, y'all heartbeat, deep
And all the fishes had they eyes bugged out
'Cause y'all dancing underwater and y'all don't get wet
And the dark smelled sweet and y'all tails touch reef
Y'all feed off the bottom, but now y'all remember
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Pressure outside the vehicle, 832.2 bars
Y'all remember when the deep got hot when y'all move on up
How y'all used to argue 'bout the water getting warmer
Still y'all loved a little bit of light up in the deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
Y'all remember saying how it couldn't be them two legs
'Cause y'all came from two legs
And y'all mama's would've loved y'all if they could've breathed
But they wasn't ready for the deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
Y'all remember when the first blast came
And the beat fell off and the dreams got woke
And the light bent bad and the fishes belly up
And them coral castles crumbled 'cause they wasn't quite enough
And conversation used to break like the floor quake
Like the bleached bones and the fin friends fled from they home
But the blasts wouldn't stop 'cause they wanted black gold
And them no-gills had to feel it 'cause they couldn't be told
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Ocean salinity, 35 PSU, water pH, 7.91
Y'all remember when the regime changed
That no pleas, no calm seas, let the water rise
So deep, so, so deep
Oil slick upon the sleeper was an awful thing to realize
If the two legs wanna wake the dead
They gon' have to bring more fire, y'all is closer to the earth
So deep and y'all was talking how to get up in they heads
And got to bein' real inspired circumstances of the birth
Has got y'all feeling like an army, better yet a navy
And they gone gave y'all the blessing now y'all going crazy
They live with green up on the surface but they ain't deep
That pistol shrimp could knock a two leg off his feet
Y'all perfecting the steam void to rip up they ships
They using sonar as second language, y'all fluent with it
And all the dreamers is woke now, but nightmares swim
But everybody hear that "Bloop" know y'all coming for them
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Surface water temperature, 308 Kelvin
Y'all remember when the call went out, ay
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember when the call went out, ay
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember feeling wind up on your skin
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember how it burned in the beginning
No deep, ride on 'em, ride on 'em, ride on 'em
Y'all remember seeing sun across the surface
On the day that y'all first came up out the water, so, so deep
How the breaking of the surface showed the sky without a border
And the air is so much hotter, so, so deep
How the woke dreamer screamed and it rose tides
And the waves stretched up like a mountain high
And the no gills gasp and they closed eyes
And they pray to they gods and they ask why
And then y'all cry too 'cause y'all recognize mama
In the faces of the ones that y'all were terrorized
They were sisters and brothers
They were the babies born up out the water
Not connected to each other
Not in knowledge of the one drop
But they had to learn today
Y'all had one shot, let the sun burn today
Let them feel the dark even deeper today
Make a two-leg a believer today
Let them know that they done woke a sleeper from a sleep
So deep
That y'all been dancin' without any feet, so, so deep
Here's the nerve that they struck with a blast
That they broke with a drill, that they burnt with the gas
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember when y'all had to let 'em breathe
Ride on 'em, ay
Initiating tidal wave sequence Uniform Romeo 0-3-0
Thrown overboard while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on slave ships
We were born breathing water as we did in the womb
We built our home on the sea floor
Unaware of the two-legged surface dwellers
Until their world came to destroy ours
With cannons, they searched for oil beneath our cities
Their greed and recklessness forced our uprising
Tonight, we remember
Started from the bottom
Y'all remember how deep it go
'Fore y'all had to come back, deep
Y'all remember when it used to be deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
When y'all swim up out yo' mama while y'all mama was asleep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
And y'all remember when y'all had the dance floor lit, dark
No two-step, deep, y'all don't even sweat, deep
As deep as it gets
Dreaming dead asleep and keeping time
Y'all heartbeat, deep, y'all heartbeat, deep
And all the fishes had they eyes bugged out
'Cause y'all dancing underwater and y'all don't get wet
And the dark smelled sweet and y'all tails touch reef
Y'all feed off the bottom, but now y'all remember
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Pressure outside the vehicle, 832.2 bars
Y'all remember when the deep got hot when y'all move on up
How y'all used to argue 'bout the water getting warmer
Still y'all loved a little bit of light up in the deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
Y'all remember saying how it couldn't be them two legs
'Cause y'all came from two legs
And y'all mama's would've loved y'all if they could've breathed
But they wasn't ready for the deep
So deep, so, so deep, ay
Y'all remember when the first blast came
And the beat fell off and the dreams got woke
And the light bent bad and the fishes belly up
And them coral castles crumbled 'cause they wasn't quite enough
And conversation used to break like the floor quake
Like the bleached bones and the fin friends fled from they home
But the blasts wouldn't stop 'cause they wanted black gold
And them no-gills had to feel it 'cause they couldn't be told
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Ocean salinity, 35 PSU, water pH, 7.91
Y'all remember when the regime changed
That no pleas, no calm seas, let the water rise
So deep, so, so deep
Oil slick upon the sleeper was an awful thing to realize
If the two legs wanna wake the dead
They gon' have to bring more fire, y'all is closer to the earth
So deep and y'all was talking how to get up in they heads
And got to bein' real inspired circumstances of the birth
Has got y'all feeling like an army, better yet a navy
And they gone gave y'all the blessing now y'all going crazy
They live with green up on the surface but they ain't deep
That pistol shrimp could knock a two leg off his feet
Y'all perfecting the steam void to rip up they ships
They using sonar as second language, y'all fluent with it
And all the dreamers is woke now, but nightmares swim
But everybody hear that "Bloop" know y'all coming for them
Y'all remember
Y'all remember
Surface water temperature, 308 Kelvin
Y'all remember when the call went out, ay
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember when the call went out, ay
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember feeling wind up on your skin
No deep, no more deep, sunshine
Y'all remember how it burned in the beginning
No deep, ride on 'em, ride on 'em, ride on 'em
Y'all remember seeing sun across the surface
On the day that y'all first came up out the water, so, so deep
How the breaking of the surface showed the sky without a border
And the air is so much hotter, so, so deep
How the woke dreamer screamed and it rose tides
And the waves stretched up like a mountain high
And the no gills gasp and they closed eyes
And they pray to they gods and they ask why
And then y'all cry too 'cause y'all recognize mama
In the faces of the ones that y'all were terrorized
They were sisters and brothers
They were the babies born up out the water
Not connected to each other
Not in knowledge of the one drop
But they had to learn today
Y'all had one shot, let the sun burn today
Let them feel the dark even deeper today
Make a two-leg a believer today
Let them know that they done woke a sleeper from a sleep
So deep
That y'all been dancin' without any feet, so, so deep
Here's the nerve that they struck with a blast
That they broke with a drill, that they burnt with the gas
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember, so deep, sunshine, ride on 'em
Y'all remember when y'all had to let 'em breathe
Ride on 'em, ay
Initiating tidal wave sequence Uniform Romeo 0-3-0
Lyrics Β© O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Snipes, William Hutson, Steve Kaplan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Ollie Fischer
i don't believe in an afterlife.
but sometimes, i like to pretend that i do, just to imagine situations like this:
imagine H.P. Lovecraft--who, even for his time period, was appallingly racist--looking down at us from the afterlife...and hearing this song...
this song, written by a Black man, explicitly using horror and science fiction elements to explore Afrofuturist concepts...
and casually name-dropping one of Lovecraft's characters, Dagon, the Great Old One, at 3:19 ...
imagine how absolutely livid Lovecraft would be. :D
Books Rebound
I'm so fucking excited that this song inspired a book and that that book inspired clippings next album. I can't wait for them to come out.
The book is The Deep by Rivers Solomon
GloriaJ Blanco
And the Γ‘lbum? Im reading the book right now
X-101
It's inspired by Drexciya
ONYX Pages
Books Rebound I read it. So good.
TheParadox1010
could this be the different sections of the ocean?
0:26 : Hadal zone
1:46 : abyssal zone
2:59 : twilight zone
3:55 : daylight zone
Ruby
THIS IS JUST THAT GOOD. clipping. only gets better and better with every song. Truly geniuses, we need more creativity and music like this. INIMITABLE. Thank you boys for blessing us and inspiring us everyday. π₯π΅π·
WiseSageBum
Am I the only one who wants to see a music video for this song?
I imagine a battalion of mer-people in a battle-subs as their generals, played by clipping, remind them why they're going to war.
J. Varni
Came back specifically to see if anyone was mentioning Rivers' novella yet. Absolutely love that I was beat to it several times
Remi Stardust
It's here!! The novella!
iheartwalle
Theres a novella coming out from Rivers Solomon later this year based on this song