Louisiana rapper, Kevin Gates, played the Salvador Dali persona last Thursday with the release of his latest video for “Time For That”, a track featured in his debut album Islah.
Pertaining to the MV, the visuals display Gates channeling the inner artist staged on what seems to be a time-warping, twilight zone-esque wasteland, complete with abandoned towns and structures—talk about enigmatic, right? Well if you actually are a fan of Salvador Dali, then you’d probably find Gates’ attempts quite plausible actually.
If you’re not convinced, check out the songs chorus: “See girl, I’m fine with that / I done gave my watches away, Ain’t got no time for that / Asking where’s my heart, good luck finding that / How long can I see her around? Think I’m still timing that”.
Nevertheless, Gates’ latest video marked the same date Islah receives certified platinum. Here’s the cool part, though: Reminiscent of J Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Gates’ premier record promotes entirely featureless content—long story short, Gates lone-wolfed his path towards platinum.
Islah, which debuted earlier this year at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling over 93,000 copies within the United States in its first week. No doubt, the album’s recent platinum can be largely credited to Gates’ single “2 Phones, which accomplished double platinum by itself back in July.
Regardless, the album’s newly-acclaimed recognition signifies what critics have been resonating all year. To provide some input, Robert Christgau (Vice magazine) provided his critique regarding Gates and Islah: “The songs have a variety of moods, catchy melodies, and a strong level of detail… His saga is an encouraging, fascinating, educational up… In a land of 10,000 wannabes, he’s an original”.
If I could paraphrase the latter statement, I’d simply say that Kevin Gates is as powerful a force as his latest video depicts—gravely enigmatic, but a very strong force stirring within the Hip-hop world.
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com
