Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t understand the hype surrounding Houston rapper Riff Raff, and his recently released video is no exception. Off his second studio album Neon Icon, which was released in June 2014 by Mad Decent, the official music video for “TiP TOE WiNG iN MY JAWWDiNZ” is ridiculous at best. (It hurt every fiber of my being to write the title like that.)
The video starts with some super babes, clearly from the future, moving other videos of people dancing with Jordan’s on around a futuristic screen and looking a little disgusted by them. Super babe number one seems more confused by the dance trend that is tip toeing in the Jordan’s, which to be honest confuses me also. Cut to Riff Raff, dressed in all white, with so much bling you almost want to rip your own eyes out. There are random shots of a praying mantis on some kind of fruit, an owl hanging out in the snow, and Riff Raff’s crew hanging out with dogs. There are a few pretty impressive dancers, rocking their Jordan’s and dancing, or playing basketball. There is also a very quick cameo of Ciara, who is known for her dancing, at the very end. Followed by a quick shot of the Monster energy drink, and a dog in sunglasses and sneakers. Obviously, this video followed some checklist on how to make a video. Maybe it just wasn’t the right checklist. At least the quality of the video and how it was edited were clean, and definitely the most impressive part of the video for me.
His lyrics also fell short for me. “My bad / I’m dyslexic in a four door mango Lexus,” is just the tip of the iceberg for this song. He compares himself to Anita Baker, and makes sure everyone of his haters is knows he’s “first class to Spain / you still buying Ralph Lauren.” When did Ralph Lauren become uncool? And if the hook “ tip toe wing in my jawwdinz / I done came down / tip toe wing in my jawwdinz / just copped a Porsche” doesn’t ring true for you, well, then I guess we all must be doing it wrong.