Leave it to Run the Jewels to use a flashy video-game tie-in music video to make a statement about late-capitalist entropy, and to give us some good commentary beforehand. On night one of this year’s all-virtual Adult Swim Festival, Killer Mike and El-P debuted the music video for “No Save Point,†their single from the soundtrack for the upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077. Killer Mike speaks to the power of genre storytelling for getting at larger truths: “Whether it’s Greek mythology, or sci-fi movies in the ’80s, ’90s, and now, what you get to do is put in these grains of very real truth. And for very real truth, we know that medicine in the United States is better and more affordable for rich people. And we know that there are countries that exist now where poor people have to sell kidneys to sustain themselves. And this game addresses that very serious issue in a way that is entertaining, enlightening. It’s dope.†El-P adds that “Mike really wants to become a computer despite the fact that he doesn’t know how to use a computer. But he wants to be in one. He wants his mind to be in a computer. Killer Mike thinks that his mind is so special that it needs to be preserved in a computer.†He isn’t wrong. The music video, directed by Mike Diva, full of classic cyberpunk imagery, like cyborg-ish tech implants, futuristic vehicles, and lots and lots of neon. Does this count as nerdcore?
Run the Jewels Debut New ‘No Save Point’ Video for Cyberpunk 2077
