Clipping. – “Nothing Is Safe”
Clipping. frontman Daveed Diggs has been quite busy over the last few years. The Tony-winning Hamilton alum just released an album with Rafael Casal this past week called Seven Nights In Chicago. The pair have been longtime creative partners, also having worked together on the Sundance film Blindspotting. They also released a song called “Vanity” last year with their Blindspotting costar Utkarsh Ambudkar.
But now Diggs is back to working with producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes as Clipping. The experimental hip-hop trio just announced their latest studio album There Existed An Addiction To Blood is due out in October, and today we get to hear lead single “Nothing Is Safe.”
This track is heavy in content and quite confrontational, coming across like a more serious version of their 2016 track “Shooter,” which with the recent uptick in mass shootings throughout the nation feels like a powerful reevaluation. A singular, eerie piano note is repeated throughout the beginning of the song, laying the groundwork for a massively intense build up.
Raining bullets and seeping blood are just some of the chill-inducing visuals illustrated lyrically, an onslaught that reaches its climax as Diggs says, “Truth, like death, comes for everyone.” Rising synths kick in, launching a sheer mass of volume onto the listener while Diggs picks up the tempo. A sample of what sounds like a dog barking is wedged between high hats and piano note accenting the trap beat. It’s horrifying and catchy all at the same time.
Listen to “Nothing Is Safe” below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Intro”
02 “Nothing Is Safe”
03 “He Dead” (Feat. Ed Balloon)
04 “Haunting (Interlude)”
05 “La Mala Ordina” (Feat. The Rita, Benny The Butcher & El Camino)
06 “Club Down” (Feat. Sarah Bernat)
07 “Prophecy (Interlude)”
08 “Run for Your Life” (Feat. La Chat)
09 “The Show”
10 “Possession (Interlude)”
11 “All In Your Head” (Feat. Counterfeit Madison & Robyn Hood)
12 “Blood Of The Fang”
13 “Story 7″
14 “Attunement” (Feat. Pedestrian Deposit)
15 “Piano Burning” (composed by Annea Lockwood)
There Existed An Addiction To Blood is out 10/18 on Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.
