Foreign Beggars are back and they're not messing around.
The project's new album '2 2 Karma' is slated to arrive in February, the first full length effort under their own name since 2012.
Alix Perez and Ivy Lab assist on production, while Foreign Beggars have also reached out to everyone from Kate Tempest to Kojey Radical and OG Maco.
New cut 'Bosh' through, is pure Foreign Beggars. That rock solid beat acts as a superb anchor, while the delivery – slick, stylish – masks rhymes that move a little deeper.
Marcello Spooks is on hand throughout, while Bangzy handles production, underlining the sheer wealth of talent at the project's disposal.
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The video was directed by female film-making duo XIPHI, and it's a tale of empowerment told through the eyes of multiple metropolis dwellers.
XIPHI's Melody Maker tells Clash that Gaspar Noe's Enter The Void was a key stylistic inspiration for the clip:
"It explores spirituality in death and reincarnation which really affected me on the first time watching it due to how visceral the subject matter is. I wanted to use similar techniques to explore my own experiences and understanding of hallucinogens- Ayahuasca and DMT in particular."
"This film is through the eyes of a spirit being floating around a East London Council flat observing an evening of events untaken by three groups. I wanted to have the girls in the background as the strong characters in the story, flipping the usual girl in rap video concept on its head. The whole video is quite surreal and I like the political commentary and satire in the courageous actions the character in the film are taking. By targeting city banks they believe they will free the people of their spiralling debt and help humanity be a safer, friendlier place."
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A fusion of gritty urban reality and sheer fantasy, the video continually questions what is real.
Melody recalls: "The hotel we found would only let us have eight people in there so we had to work with a super skeleton crew of people and we all took on many roles."
"Because of the small sizes of the rooms – not designed for camera crews – we had to think carefully about what equipment to use. We downsized to smaller cameras and used a wide lens to capture as much of the decor as possible."
A triumph of invention and a singular creative vision, the video is dominated by that flying – almost spiritual – camera effect. Melody explains a little more…
"To create the spiritual flying effect we attached the camera to a stabilizing gimbal and the put this on a monopod to give the height and movement of a spirit. We then used clever masking vfx work to match this to drone shots and make it seem as if we were flying through walls. We have been developing this technique since our video for Coasts 'Let me Love you' . We have been incorporating vfx more into our work as it really allows us to realise the slightly surreal reality we like to create".
A superb return, you can check out 'Bosh' below.
Foreign Beggars will release '2 2 Karma' in February.
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