Words By Miki Hellerbach

Butch Dawson drops surreal visuals to go alongside new track ‘Hummer’.

In an exclusive interview with Basement Rap, Baltimore rapper Butch Dawson says about the video for his new single ‘Hummer’, “The ‘Hummer’ video really came from a dream. Conceptually, there’s no meaning to the video…My booking agent Mira said my direction reminded her of neorealist Italian films”. The multi-faceted artist co-directed his own visual with best friend Thugmom. They begin the presentation with an artsy mafioso style black and white scene with a hand tied Dawson on his knees being punched in the face by a moustached man. This is all done with a sonic backdrop of acoustic guitar strums and Dawson sung lyrics including, “I wanna celebrate, but it’s not the time”.

This all occurs before we even get to the slapper of the main song, which, when we reach it, feels like a release from the dream sequence into a Rap video reality even though it’s still in black and white. The crossover of the two worlds imbues a similar feeling of semi-controlled chaos. We witness Dawson with his crew inside and around a parked Hummer limo vibing to the hard drums and wavering synthy sounds. They appear to be beneath Baltimore’s I-83 highway impasse, a location that plays home to many of Baltimore’s homeless population.

Dawson has become known for potent energized punk rap on other standout tracks such as ‘Feel Nobody‘ and ‘Word on the Block‘, and continues his mastery of the style here. As Dawson floats with intricate flows over the intensity of the instrumental with bars like, “I was in DC killin’ a three piece vibin’ to Go-Go/ She wear the free tee thinkin’ she Riri baby you doin’ the most,” it’s easy to believe his later hook lyric, “I might fuck up the summer, yeah!” 

This single taps into the emotion of the world’s darkness fused with the anticipation of a more outside summer existence emerging from the past year and a half. Dawson seems to perfectly understand and reaffirm what sets his aesthetic apart and as a new signee of Asylum Records it would appear his trajectory will only elevate from here.