London Rapper Osquello released a music video for his cover of De La Soul’s ‘Stakes Is High,’ which was recorded as a tribute to the legendary late J Dilla who sadly died on this day in 2006. J Dilla, who produced De La Soul’s original ‘Stakes Is High,’ track which was released in 1996 for the LP of the same title. The track features J Dilla’s trademark production style which transforms the studio in an instrument and blends an organic composition out of drum machines and sample pads.
Osquello’s take on the track, which was first released on his Soundcloud a month ago, before being followed up with the video yesterday, features the same trademark Dilla beat with a fresh set of verses delivered by the young London rapper to keep the track fresh and current. It is a testament to the prowess of J Dilla that in a genre as ephemeral as Rap and Hip-Hop, a beat made 24 years ago can remain current and still groove with a set of verses penned in the present time.
The music video for Osquello’s ‘Stakes Is High,’ cover is lo-fi but shot with a pleasing noir aesthetic that transcends the need for high budget production values by seeking instead to create a suitable vibe and paint a picture of the song’s meaning through simple techniques. The black and white filming and urban city landscape transports the listener to the rapper’s home and studio in London as charms the viewer without trying to overly impress them.
The simple, non-flashy titles at the beginning and end of the video which display first the rapper’s name and at the end the message ‘Love To Dilla,’ which pays tribute to the late producer give the video a pleasing school project type feel which rejects the excessive production values and decadence which often plague mainstream pop or hip-hop videos where it often feels that money is simply being thrown around without any real vision. This video instead opts for an art-house feel and styling which prioritises meaning and simplicity with the only real editing which is added after the camera work are a few freeze frames and the black and white colour filter.
The audio version of the track which Osquello released about a month earlier to his Soundcloud profile the London rapper includes a transcription of his original bars which he added to J Dilla’s timeless instrumental. Over the classic samples which still sound as fresh today as they did two decades ago, Osquello raps about life in 2021 covering topics as broad and as far reaching as human mortality, the effects of money and fame, greed and authenticity. The lyrics show the true underground approach which the rapper presents of himself, seeming to totally reject the trappings of money and fame and show himself to be pursuing art for a higher purpose.
