My first reaction to most music videos at the moment is to tut and say: “Well you wouldn’t be able to do that nowadays.”
So it is with new Hackney rapper Bree Runway, high-kicking around the roof of a car park in leather chaps and jostling with a set of equally energetic dancers in the video for her current single, Apeshit. (She does spend some time writhing in a cage too, but as isolation goes it’s too little too late.)
The song’s impressive streaming numbers might have benefited from the fact that it shares a title with a 2018 single by The Carters, aka Beyoncé and Jay-Z. More likely it’s that the video has big Missy Elliott vibes, from the chessboard backdrop to the old-school synths. “Yes I’m seeing it! Lol keep shining mama,” tweeted the rap pioneer last month, to Ms Runway’s obvious delight.
A debut EP last summer showed her versatility, from slick acoustic R&B to skeletal trap. Her unveiling as a live performer will have to wait: she was due at next month’s Great Escape festival in Brighton for hot new acts, now cancelled. But when she can get on a stage, it’ll surely be a hell of a show.
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