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One Video: Swang by Rae Sremmurd

One Video: Swang by Rae Sremmurd

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Who doesn’t love alternative golf?

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Every Friday, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn present a new series called One Video. Each week we’ll tell you “one video” you need to watch, why, and for how long.

THIS WEEK’S VIDEO: “SWANG” BY RAE SREMMURD

Kaitlyn Tiffany: This week, the race to be the “One Video” was tighter than usual. For example, Lizzie and I were forced to consider a seven-minute milk commercial starring Adam Levine and Future because we felt like it might be our duty to discuss whether the video was filmed on a graphing calculator. We also thought we might have an obligation to talk about the official music video for “Paris” by the Chainsmokers, if only because the video represents a rare situation in which the addition of visuals makes a song notably worse, and we were shocked that this was even possible for a song as bad as “Paris” by the Chainsmokers.

But the point of “One Video” is to help you decide on just one video to watch, and ultimately we realized that what you deserve is some fun. Therefore this week’s video is “Swang” by Rae Sremmurd.

WHO IS RAE SREMMURD?

Lizzie: Rae Sremmurd are two brothers from Mississippi. Swae Lee is the younger one, with a voice that’s a little bit like a firecracker right before it explodes. Slim Jxmmi is the older one, who raps like he swallowed a handful of rocks and is spitting them back out at you.

Depending on which angle you’re coming in from, you might know them from their tracks “No Type” or “No Flex Zone” off their 2015 album SremmLife, or you might know them as the guys who made the song in the mannequin challenge.

If you’re just coming in now, you know them as the rap duo who made this video.

WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT “SWANG” BY RAE SREMMURD:

Kaitlyn: What I like best about “Swang” by Rae Sremmurd is, of course, the choreography. I think you could sell me on basically anything if there were choreography involved, which is why I haven’t participated very fervently in the La La Land backlash and why I recently bought out an entire Target. Teach me this dance:

Golf is the most boring sport ever invented, and with the exception of a few minutes in the 2001 film Donnie Darko, the backdrop of a golf course has never been a compelling visual. It’s just green.

Yet this video works and is fun. If I had to guess, I would say “Swang” is a spinoff of some pivotal scenes in Animal House, in which all of the bad guy frat bros are playing golf and all of the nice guy frat bros (a historical anachronism) are having a chill fun time. That’s pretty much what’s happening here. Swae Lee at one point tees up a golf ball on a stack of $100 bills. Someone gives a very old woman a joint, which is classic humor. As I mentioned, choreography. Rae Sremmurd’s alternative golf cart, which is basically a military transport vehicle with the top sawed off, intimidates some of the other kids on the green. In my opinion it’s always positive to show snobby teens cowering in fear from a fun dude who dances like this:

Lizzie: I think in general Rae Sremmurd are talented in the art of having a good time while the rest of us are not. This is a nice quality, and it’s always nice to watch someone else have a good time, as long as you are rooting for that person. I’m rooting for Rae Sremmurd.

A few years ago, a golfing blog asked, Is 2013 the Year of the Golf Music Video? The answer, from everyone else, was no, never, of course not.

But perhaps, dear writer at Swing By Swing dot com, you were just ahead of your time. The beginning of the Rae Sremmurd video reminds me of Tyler, The Creator’s video for “Tamale,” which is also very bright and takes place partially on a golf course. Golf courses seem like an ideal setting for a music video, because, as Kaitlyn points out, you have a lot of room for dancing and driving small carts, which is the more environmentally friendly version of the music video convertible.

I think what Rae Sremmurd have tapped into in the “Swang” video is a universal desire to have a wide-open, carefully manicured field at your disposal, and to liven up a dull party you weren’t invited to (the party here being the golf course).

HOW LONG EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH “SWANG” BY RAE SREMMURD:

Kaitlyn: You should watch “Swang” by Rae Sremmurd in its entirety four to five times, or however long it takes you to really chill out.

Lizzie: You should watch this video until you’re convinced that golf is a good sport.