A pandemic-created isolation. Controversy stemming from corruption in politics. Legends meeting an untimely end. Villains elevated to superstardom. This is 2020, but more specifically, these are the visuals that comprise the new music video for “Blurry,” the latest single from rapper-singer-songwriter Chris Waters currently out everywhere top-shelf indie hip-hop is sold and streamed. Waters doesn’t want to waste our time with halfhearted messages about getting out the vote in this track, nor does he want to pretend like nothing is wrong with the current state of our society. Here, he’s venting, cutting loose, and getting back to the roots of what hip-hop is supposed to sound like at its most unrestrained. 

The master mix here is pretty raw and edgy, but in all honesty I think that it needs to be for us to appreciate the depth of Waters’ songcraft as it relates to the narrative in this song. He has nothing to hide here, nor does he ever come off as an artist who has any concern for the popular trends of a generation frequently cited as the most self-serving and intellectually polarizing in centuries. He’s attacking the verse and snapping back to give us as melodic a hook as he can, scarcely leaving any unutilized space for us to draw implied pessimism from. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chriswaters2012

In the competitive Austin, Texas scene he has chosen to call home as a professional musician, Chris Waters is absolutely a man who stands out in the crowd, and tracks like “Blurry” are the reason why. It’s difficult to make a statement single like this one in 2020 and not sound as though you’re trying to follow the ‘revolution’ narrative in some way, shape or form, but it’s made more than clear to us through Waters’ direct action in the performance he gives here that inauthenticity is the last thing he wants to incorporate into his artistry. 

Zachary Rush