At the beginning of the month, hip-hop heavyweight Norfolk-bred Al Doms released his latest project, “New Dream” establishing himself as a true artist; a wordsmith with a message. Shortly after came a masterpiece that is the video for “Rat Race” (prod. Marq Beez and bennygotbass).
The video, directed by Norfolk-native Aaron Dee, opens up with Doms playing the role of an O.G. chopping it up with one of his younger homies and his crew. It feels like the opening to a movie taken place in the inner city and centered around some sort of unresolved, stagnant plight. Brooklyn-bred cinematographer Liam Reardon provided cinematic color grading as DP and editor.
Al-Doms spoke about the song in an interview with the Virginia Pilot’s Amy Poulter. “Rat Race is a parable, the 26-year-old said, exploring the cyclical effects of systematic racism and generational trauma. The ugliness of today, he said.” Ugliness that can be seen towards the end of the video where…well, you can see for yourself in the video below. You’re going to want to run this back a few times, it’s a real ride from beginning to end. Salute to Eleven01!