Anime has taken a prominent role in hip-hop in recent years, as more acts who respect the genre’s attention to heavy social and philosophical dynamics have reached the forefront. Count Brer Rabbit of Denver rock-rap fusion Flobots as one of those artists, as he recently used footage from the 1988 anime classic Akira for the group’s “Quarantine” video.
Rabbit repurposed the anime after realizing that the parallel themes of “the constant clash for power, the eradication of information to control the narrative, how our monsters and heroes are homemade, and ultimately that children will be the ones who will have to pay the price” were at play in Quarantine, a raucous single from their NOENEMIES project which was released in May.
The footage, curated by Rabbit, perfectly fit the stirring tone of the song, as the group calls society action, bellowing that “the machine is broken” over soaring guitar play. The rabid bass guitar is met with deep drums, which makes inspiring rhymes like “the surge is us when the sickness is pervasive feel that much more invigorating. The NOENEMIES project was funded by a kickstarter which raised 31K, and hopefully everyone who donates feels galvanized by the message of “Quarantine”– and maybe takes a look at Akira, if they haven’t already.
You can stream and purchase NOENEMIES here.
