Masterpieces Pop Music Video Clips, Part 1: Bomfunk MC's 'Freestyler'

This clip and the next posted clip are sublime portrayals of adolescence. The first, in this entry, shows the male adolescent version of the sublime, and the second the female sublime. I believe both are revealing master works of art and music.

Bomfunk MC's 'Freestyler' represents the sublime as a state in which social embarrassment is blasted out of existence by the intensity of the music. The music occupies a realm of pure pattern, sound and light. The freestyler's non-English accent evokes a Finnish exotica of liberty and strangeness as he sings "Freestyler...straight from tha top o' my dome".

The intensity of the sublime in Freestyler arises directly from the hidden relationship of the rhythm structure to the feeling of social embarrassment at inappropriately wild, joyous and energetic behavior. The music clip picks up with uncanny genius on this connection, opening with a young man dancing a wild quasi-shamanic dance in an pure white railway station.

I don't think it's overstating things to say that the music clip is a masterpiece. Its brilliance arises directly out of the sublimity of the song, which needs to be fully understood for the clip to make sense.

The wild ecstatic rhythmn structure of 'Freestyler' seems spontanous but it is clearly a highly designed artefact. But the artificiality of the lyrics and production instead of ruining the effect of the song actually heightens the embarrassing intensity of emotion.

Any male teenager understands this song, whether they acknowledge it or not. Any young male who has suffered from the intoxicating surges of emotion, the wild cravings to leap, run, hunt, fuck, stalk, dance, kill, and snort with contempt at the peaceful elders idly sitting by the pregnant women by the campfire understands this song. Bomfunk MC's 'Freestyler' shamanistically evokes, aggressively presents, then skilfully re-presents in cultural context the wonderful wildness of very early manhood.

But 'Freestyler' would just be another barbaric yawp if it were not for the representational genius of the maker of the music clip and the producer of the song. By heightening the overall artificiality of the song, they emphasize the wildness of the energy underlying it. The song is like a riptide. It seems placid and simple up top, but underneath it evokes a cauldron of madness and passion.

The clip dramatically deepens the merit of the song, allowing full evocation of social embarrassment by watching the mawkish adventures of the kid protagonist. I can read the music clip of 'Freestyler' on four levels; first, as coming-of-age myth; second, as shamanic initiation; third, as a visual art pierce; and fourth, as a commercial product.

The most important aspect of the 'Freestyler' clip is the coming of age aspect. The kid protagonist is at first intimidated by the freestyling stranger on the platform, but on his encounter with the second freestyler on the train seat, who is still and silent, he suddenly finds himself infused with a new energy a violent urge to move origination from the base of his belly like a fire, expressed a new beat which confers the power to control time and space, force others to move to his command, and make pretty women dance. This is the first surge of sexual awakening in male teenagers: the sudden awareness of power, the intoxicating realization of new abilities and attractions, the distant and alluring promise of being able to control time and space. At a time when most women are worrying about their clothes and breast size, this intoxicating obsession with nature, control, power and motion is at the heart of why masculinity created civilization. Bomfunk's 'Freestyler' cuts right to the heart of maleness. It also effectively portrays the shamanism of the silent, still, watchful, 'cool' presence of the older man initiating the younger man into manhood: by remaining cool, the older man creates a space for the teenager to run riot safely within.

For those rare souls who are esoterically literate, 'Freestyler' evokes Mars and Uranus together and at once. The evocation is remarkable for its directness, simplicity and power. Used esoterically the song may have the power to energize new initiatives and awaken new forces. The Uranian initiatory aspects of the song are considerable and complex, and would require more words and deeper understanding than I have here.

There is little else worth saying about this remarkable clip except to suggest you view it: