UKC

This guy is something else. I'm just trying to tell everyone I know about it (and him). Watch this video, you won't regret it.

Artist: Ren

Song: Hi Ren

youtube.com/watch?v=s_nc1IVoMxc&

I agree.  I think it’s the best piece of art I’ve seen in at least a decade.  

That's absolutely brilliant, thanks for sharing that 😀 👍 

Both impressive and disturbing.

Top tip. Don't just watch it, I'm guessing audio makes the difference here. Without it, all I got was angsty peaky blinders with earrings in an Albanian setting. I'll look forward to the full experience tomorrow...! 

Great tip gribble, who would of guessed that the audio would be an important part of a music video. 

Art is an appropriate word for a piece like this, like it or not its incredibly emotive, original and thought provoking.

So sad that he's spent the last 10 years unwell and now at the height of his stoke is in Canada receiving medical treatment. Some of his other music is also worth checking out and he has new music coming out in 2 weeks. 

I've watched this so many times since it came out a few months back. 

Brilliant and starkly honest

Yes I've become completely obsessed with his back catalogue. It's just hit after hit after hit. He's like the simultaneous reincarnation of Prince, Hendrix, Biggie and Bob Marley. His live stuff busking in Brighton with The Big Push is also phenomenal (check out the videos of I Shot the Sheriff and the mash up of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and Paranoid)

To those handing out downvotes: I can only assume you lack both ears and a soul.

Folks, huh? I really enjoyed the bit at the start where he gets wheeled out by a pig.

Shades of Professor Green and Eminem but far, far better.

Ignore downvotes, it's a tiny proportion of those who viewed your post. I'm really greatful for the heads up and many like me never use the buttons.

He uses the human-pigs motif in a lot of his recent stuff. In an interview he explains it’s an allusion to the end of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, ie about human greed and corruption. Check out the video for “Sick Boi” for more in this vein. 

I think it's a thinly veiled political commentary about the corruption of the current government. When I see a pig I think 'Peppa' and then I automatically think 'Bojo'.

Yeah, many ways to read it. 

Likewise the upvotes. 

I might have hung in there longer without ears!

If it is art, it is the sort which I can dislike while appreciating the craft. Each to their own I suppose. 

The tune, I think, exemplifies the schism that exists in the mind when enduring a psychotic episode, count yourself fortunate if you don't "get it". Psychosis (ugly word thanks to Mr Hitchcock), with it's accompanying delusions and hallucinations is the most terrifying experience. How Ren has owned his illness, turned it into a muse, is pretty inspirational stuff. The finest artists are neuro-divergent, name one that isn't! This is where creative 'genius' lies. The view from the edge is an efficacious lense.

I don't think it is a matter of getting it or not; it is a matter of whether it is something one wants to spend time listening to.

Thanks for sharing this, loved it. It's certainly made my night shift pass quicker than normal discovering some of his other stuff.

Thanks for the intro. What an interesting and impressive artist! 

It's a stunning work, and I watched it through tears. But only because I was already aware of Ren. I'd never have watched it if I'd just read your posts. I've given you dislikes for the quote above. If you want to promote this (and it should be promoted), then extol it's virtues. Don't go round dismissing people who don't get it. 

Yes, telling those of us who don't like it that we don't have ears or a soul comes across as supremely arrogant. We probably just have different tastes. 

I'd argue that's what good art does: it generates significant emotional responses and can lead to excitement and important description on the positive side but also disbelief that others can't see it at all. Those who don't feel that effect IMHO are not especially relevant to such work (not all good art impacts everyone).

I feel it is important to defend such art over those who feel 'meh'. Think of it in terms of what you might regard as an unexpectedly great climb, where you are excited, and can be beautifully clear as to why,  and also that your view seems to hold significant agreement with others you respect; yet still, as many climbers do not understand at all.  Such intelligently identified and shared climb quality is more important than the negative opinions to me.

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed that!

This guy is amazing, a close family member is coming through psychosis and this guys work has helped us all.  No idea what all the downvotes are about, psychosis is a living hell for everyone involved, the more people express their experience the better. And Ren does it better than most.

Downvotes for such posts, highlighting something where many here will find beauty, is a UKC badge of honour. 

Thanks for that. 

Offwidth has really gotten me right here - so just to explain.

I've watched this video (or listened to the song on Spotify) multiple times a day for the past week. I cannot remember the last time music had such a deep emotional impact on me. When the piece shifts from a rap battle into a message of sublime hope and overcoming (i.e. when he starts actually singing) it brings me out in goosebumps all over. Last night I listened to it twice in the car driving home from Dorset and both times it brought me to tears. I guess when you feel so powerfully connected to something and want to share it with others and hope they have the same experience, it can be bewildering and even perhaps hurtful when they just anonymously downvote you (and in some cases, take the trouble to go through other people's positive comments and downvote them too).

I take Robert Durran's point that not all music is to everyone's taste, and I should have anticipated that. I guess I just thought the raw talent, originality, layers, intelligence, emotional depth and ultimately (dare I say it) transcendent message of this piece of art would be universally felt. And it felt disappointing when the response was much more mixed.

But on which note, I'd also say: if you only watched the first minute or two, try again. It's something that needs to be watched until the end.

I've been watching Ren videos for 2 hours. Fascinating character.

I must admit that this was new to me but it is absolutely fantastic, I'm off down the rabit hole in search of some more ...

Thank you

I've been down that hole for a week. Highly recommend it. Top hits:

- Violet's Tale and also the Tale of Jenny and Screech (watch together)

- Chalk Outlines (try the live version!)

- Money Game Pt. II

- Genesis, The Hunger, and Power (if you're into hip hop, these are a mind-blowing trip. The guy's flow is insane)

Best in the order... Jenny, Screech then Violet.

Please could you translate "gotten" in this context. Understood you, caught you out or something else. It's hard to tell. 

Ok, so I only got through two or three minutes before and then fast forwarded a few times. I just watched it right through. By the end I was somewhat bored and a bit irritated. It did nothing for me emotionally. I'm sure he has a valid message, but the medium just isn't for me.

Understood 

OK. “de gustibus non est disputandum” as the Romans used to say. 

I would defend peoples' right to think it's great and peoples' right to feel "meh". 

As for the dislikes, I suspect that initially they were just "meh", but then mostly annoyance at the OP's intolerance of the "meh". But I think you and I agree that the dislike button is a bad thing anyway (I never use it).

The problem with the dislike button is it taps into that nasty part of human psychology whereby even if you get 1000 positive reactions your brain will be drawn to pay attention to the 2 or 3 negative ones. We dislike being disliked far more intensely than we like being liked. This, of course, is one of the many reasons why social media platforms are so detrimental to so many people’s mental health. 

I gave you a like for that 🙂

I thought it was brilliant too, and I usually switch off immediately at any hint of a rap. But, for start you didn't sell it very well. Anyone can say "Watch this video, you won't regret it.". Lots of people say this, and I never watch them, because they are nearly always not to my taste. More importantly, you are assuming that because this hit you so deeply, it appeals to something fundamental in the human psyche. But I don't think that's the case. To understand any art, you have to have the cultural experience to connect with it. I can easily see how someone without my musical references to go from could fail to get into Ren.