It has been almost a week since the supposed fight between Recycled J and Fortfast. It all started when Fortfast (@srfortfast), a well-known youtuber, found Recycled (@recycledj666) on the street and decided to interview him for one of his videos. In the interview he asked him about money, about “pasta”. The anger surfaced when Fortfast published a teaser on Twitter, a short trailer of the full video that he would publish on Sunday. That’s when Jorge shows his resentment in networks alleging that he hadn’t given permission to publish it, that the condition was that he first had to show him the video. As a result, the Internet is revolutionized: tweets, stories, memes… Some positioned themselves on the side of Fortfast, others on the part of Recycled and the more astute affirmed that it was an agreed beef. However, the doubt was still there. What if this time it was true?
Recycled J is back with a new marketing strategy. After the success of “Valga la pena”, the artist allies with youtuber Fortfast to promote his new video with a beef agreed by both.
The video, with frenetic transitions and character changes, breaks with the classic dynamic of the traditional playbacks resource shots from a story of doppergängers and identity changes, taking a masterful advantage of the changes in scenery and costumes. In reality, the whole video clip is a metaphor for what the music world really looks like, the artist’s profile and, above all, the profile of a rapper. Through emblematic constructions of what can be the music industry, Recycled J and Selecta (@selecta33) transmit us their point of view.
Run over
The first and last Jorge, the one wearing the shirt, is the real Jorge. In fact, the styling was taken directly from his wardrobe. These are garments in which he feels comfortable and which reveal the true identity, without masks. When Fortfast’s interview is over and the identity parade begins, the color grading and the aesthetics achieved by the colors make it clear that we are entering a cinematographic world, falsified, that is not real.
Businessman
The businessman refers to that dimension of the music industry that is eagerly seeking commodification and power. He symbolizes the dynamics of some record companies that press and drown their artists for purely commercial purposes, without attending to their artistic concerns. That Jorge who has just been signed runs over the independent Jorge, the one who is free and faithful to his creative principles. He wears an Antony Morato suit as he contemplates tailoring in a more youthful way. Business, money, calls and a lot of haste. So much so that he doesn’t even have time to smoke that cigarette.
Rapper
The cigar that is consumed gives way to the aesthetic rap. Adidas tracksuits, the suburbs, hip hop references from the 80s… The neighborhood rapper, who goes down to the park and doesn’t even make songs, laughs from the other side of the coin of superficiality, the commercial side.
Studio
And it’s that commercial part that Jorge represents in the studio, coming in from a video that rappers see on the phone and that they are laughing at shamelessly. This part refers to the duality of the character. While recording, he’s thinking about what he has to do with a cool attitude, but outside of cameras he doesn’t want to be there. That new life is killing him. His look is extremely interesting, he is dressed by Ana Locking (@analocking) as they were looking for ostentatious and eye-catching garments to reflect that greatness of the artist inside a studio. The eye-catching print enhances the change from black and white to color. An aesthetic that is totally opposed to the previous character.
Concert
Guess dressed. American, high neck, sobriety and professionalism. This scene simulates a red carpet or the exit of a concert. The faces that the singer makes, in front of his fans, totally exposed to the public, show that he cannot really afford to be sad or angry.
Tailor
“I made myself a suit with each of my defeats” and that’s literally what it does. When he leaves the store after buying it, in the purest “Cayetano style” with a shirt and a Spanish belt, it is stolen by another Jorge.
Thief
Taken to the cliché to make it easy to understand. Without half measures. The thief Jorge wears a strapless shirt, balaclava and a black leather jacket. His escape ends when he falls and finds another Jorge.
Delivery man
It is one of the most interesting sequences, because it captures the sinuous reality of public figures. The barter between brands and celebrities, influencers and gifts in massive amounts in exchange for image and sponsorship. “Today I get boxes and boxes of expensive brands that mom and dad couldn’t buy. They gave you everything and now you don’t value anything”.
Home
He’s the first Jorge again, but now we see the scene after the hit-and-run. He returns home, this package arrives, and we discover the implacable message that contains all the song and all the video clip. Because everything that each character and each plot does “for the money,” that whole game of who earns more and who earns less, is really a joke. That’s why, at the end of the video, they play with the semantic sense of pasta, with Jorge eating a plate of pasta with tomato while smiling at the camera.
“Por la pasta” shows a brutal display of potential by Recycled J, who in a very short time has become one of the top representatives of the urban scene in our country. The album “City Pop” is completed with an amalgam of apparently entropic styles that, in the hands of the artist, adopt a passionate sense and coherence. “Por la pasta” doesn’t look like any other song, and yet it fits perfectly into the album with a clear, direct and sagacious message shown in the video. Rap, neopop and a diversity of cultural and aesthetic references reaffirm a talent that never ceases to be refined with ingenuity, style and that excellent symbiosis of masterful sounds and sharp lyrics.
Photographs: Alex Ríos (@eldelascamaras)
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