The 2000s don’t feel that long ago, but the nostalgia for the decade is in hyperdrive, especially in the UK rap scene. Take the music video for YT’s “#Purrr,” the London rapper’s 2023 #StillSwaggin single that flips Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” into a new-age jerk anthem. Directed by Lauzza, the clip is set at a Solo Cup–riddled bash that blends the comedic framework of J-Kwon’s parents-out-of-town blowout on “Tipsy” with the wasted frat party vibe of Wiz Khalifa’s “In the Cut.” A girl at the party is wearing Union Jack shuttershades. YT is rocking the kind of YMCMB snapback that Tyga probably wore. “Still Swaggin” is written on his T-shirt in the gold and purple Hannah Montana font. Empty bottles of Smirnoff Ice are on the floor. It’s an incredible visual time machine that, merged with his jerk revivalist sound, communicates that YT is making the kind of low stakes turn-up music that was en vogue in the days when the New Boyz were sagging their skinny jeans and Drake was still learning to grow a beard.
This retro aesthetic now defines a reborn British underground, one that has been in a full-court press for the last few weeks. Recently, Dazed Digital dropped an expansive cover with the headline “The Underground Artists Leading the UK’s Rap Revolution,” which highlighted eight new-ish rappers and the radio platform Victory Lap. Then, popular streamer PlaqueBoyMax brought his “In the Booth” series overseas, featuring everyone from Skepta and the Conglomerate boys to faces of the current underground generation like the aforementioned YT and Jim Legxacy. On Legxacy’s catchy new single “Father,” which sounds like he laid down his melodic gloom over a peak Heatmakerz beat, a voice on the intro says, “Black British music/We’ve been making asses shake since the Windrush.” The overall message is that there is a unified scene in the UK ready for the spotlight. A huge part of the presentation is the videos.
And the videos are eye-catching and made with plenty of skill and taste. Their attention-to-detail is nuts—the production crew on Feng’s “Kids From the West” should get jobs on the next Paul Thomas Anderson period piece. And, lately, Lauzza has leaned into green-screen technology, where the intricacies of the editing and motion graphics, and the euphoric blast of colors are mindblowing. (Check, Fimiguerrero and YT’s “MVP,” in which Lauzza and crew do such a spot-on recreation of grainy NBA Street V3 scenes that it’s borderline creepy.) But only a handful of these videos are using these era signifiers to say anything about the music. Nostalgia is the brand, rather than a gateway to better understand the rappers.
The biggest culprit of the bunch is Len’s “Pinktesla”—directed by Len and Moi—which is strongly evocative of the black silhouette iTunes commercials of the 2000s. Sure, it’s done well, but rehashing a retro ad by one of the largest corporations in the world isn’t exactly what I consider #inspired. There’s not much appeal to the concept other than it’s a mirror image of something I saw on TV a lot, a drag since the song itself is a banger mix of swag-rap flash and fast-paced Afropop rhythms that has me wanting to know more about him. At least it’s pretty fun watching his drunk-uncle two-step. I have a similar grievance with the American Apparel promo pastiche of Fakemink’s “Easter Pink,” shot by Nategotsis. It’s obvious he’s going for the indie sleaze thing that the song gestures at—young girls swing their hair and a bleach-blond dude puffs on a cigarette—but the vision feels incomplete and vague, tied too strongly to commercial images that don’t have a lot of meaning on their own. Worst of all, the music becomes an afterthought.
I prefer Feng’s “Kids From the West” footage, which the Croydon-bred rapper and producer shot himself with help from CTI and Max. Stylistically, its low-budget grit is similar to “Easter Pink,” but it’s more personal, with a group of teenagers dressed like they’re at a vintage MGMT show (wrinkled graphic tees, zip-up hoodies, winter scarves, wired headphones, regular fit jeans that look straight off the racks of an American Eagle), blowing bubbles, slapping around balloons, and toppling on top of one another. The scrappiness gives off the edge of the original Skins, the fucked-up British teen outcast drama that first debuted in 2007. That feeling of youthful rebellion and provocation jells with his lyrics: “We know it’s dumb, but we live life with no plan.” Watch the video once and, in less than two minutes, Feng’s entire SoundCloud page is completely contextualized.
Lauzza’s recent string of videos aren’t as personalized. The effects of the Grand Theft Auto styling of Pozer’s “Habits” video are elaborate but rote. In BXKS’ “Wagashi,” the neon-lights animation is nothing but a bland spectacle. There’s more to Lauzza’s video for Jim Legxacy’s “Father,” where, with a glint of nationalism, the visual collage is meant to capture a humdrum 2000s London childhood: hanging out in detailed illustrations of chicken shops, bus stops, and the classroom. But it feels like a video that could have been made for anyone.
Of course, it isn’t just underground UK rap; nostalgia is everywhere. On the small screen, a few of the hottest shows of the moment are bringing back 2000s network television energy. In the movies, the appeal of so many of the Oscars’ Best Picture nominees is that they were doing things we used to do all the time: The Brutalist is the historical epic; Conclave is the twisty TNT thriller; Anora is the ’70s screwball comedy-drama. Fire up YouTube, and you might find Montreality borrowing from Smack DVDs, or Atlanta videographer Jelani Miller doing 106 & Park–era R&B videos for MIKE and Tony Shhnow. On the mic, Thirteendegrees ° and Nine Vicious are blowing up pulling from early Young Thug, and LiAngelo “Gelo” Ball scored a minor hit and record deal through bringing back the Cash Money vibes.
Yeah, quite a few of these things are good, though, because the appeal goes beyond remember that. The Lauzza video that really pulls that off is the one for YT and Lancey Foux’s hard-as-hell 2024 link-up “Black & Tan.” As usual, the effects are wicked, slotting YT and Lancey into 480p graphics that resemble flashy, expensive music videos from the heyday of T-Pain and Nigerian crew Mo’ Hits. And once you catch that, the point goes beyond nostalgia, actually fleshing out the creativity of their fly party rap.
