Erk Tha Jerk‘s new clip for “Perfect Mistake,” a single off The Prelude, the forthcoming free EP release and precursor to his imminent debut Nerd’s Eye View, breaks music video conventions in such a way that it’s hard to consider it a part of the same medium – less MTV fare than short film. A tale of crime and betrayal, the video captures the aftermath of what appears to have been a diamond heist and follows a Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple, played by Erk and R&B Singer Netta. And while many have made songs to serve as a metaphor for their relationship with music, here, Erk takes things one step further, serving up a video that acts as a metaphor for an artist’s relationship with the music industry that exploits and sells the music. “Netta represents the music industry in the video,” explains the Bay Area rapper. “The diamonds represent the fancy things that ‘it’ can bring. In the video, it makes me feel wanted, then, in the end, sets me up and leaves me worse off that when I started.”
One of the more interesting points to note is the fact that “Perfect Mistake” only plays throughout the first two-thirds of the clip. In the final minute, the drama is heightened through the use of a propulsive percussion track followed by thirty seconds of complete silence. Erk, himself, was the force behind the video and it’s important to recognize how the song’s lyrics mirror the creative process. “The line ‘I’m sick and you can feel me coming like the flu / I ain’t never ran, but I run it like I do,’ is something that captures the mood,” the rapper explains. “It’s a nod to people who find it hard to believe that I work hard, from producing the music to directing the video.” It can be a risk when any artist is as hands-on with his vision as Erk Tha Jerk. Here, though, congratulations are in order, as both the song and the video are a triumph.
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