JCK “Freak in the Club”

Well, this a fun one. JCK was a duo, comprised of rapper James Castady-Kristament and singer Lou Ludbrook, who’d previously performed in a larger group called JCK and the Dirty Ho Bags.

“Freak in the Club” is a typical hip hop song of the mid ’00s, all about partying in the club. The video seems to want to show off a very blingy lifestyle, but with a low production budget it’s hard to fake that. In fact, this kind of video seems like the hardest thing to actually pull off. A good “in the club” video needs lots of people and they all need to be directed – and that’s hard.

There’s MC JCK posing in a suit and holding a walking stick. He’s not actually using the walking stick to support his leg, nor is he flourishing it like a pimpstick. He’s just holding it like he’s minding it for friend. In another scene he’s wearing a fur coat, but rather than coming across all PIMP, the too-short sleeves and ratty appearance make it look like something donated to an opshop from the estate of a deceased granny.

“I’m a freak in the club,” sings Lou, reclining on a couch, dressed like an extra from The Great Gatsby. She claims she’s a freak, but sitting around on a couch isn’t a very freaky thing to do.

There’s also an assortment of party girls who are dancing as giant letters fly past them with song lyrics. Some of the girls look like actual models, others look like friends drafted in to help out with the music video. And just to add to the list of things that don’t quite make sense, there’s also a vintage car.

And then there’s one girl wearing some horse-riding gear, who keeps showing up in the video. This no obvious connection between her and getting freaky in the club unless… unless the club in question is a pony club. In which case everyone else is rather underdressed. You don’t want to be riding a horse in gold hotpants.

Despite the ambition of both the song and the video, it never manages to get there. This is not a bangin’ club track and the video doesn’t capture the attitude or the energy of club magic. But the YouTube description notes that the video was played on C4 Select and Juice TV. Well, good on them.

Best bit: the camera movement which suggests that the vintage car has low-rider hydraulics.

This was JCK’s one and only NZ On Air funded video, but in 2013 he made a self-funded video for the song “Straitjacket”. It’s got more of an indie/electro sound, but the video is even more entertaining than “Freak in the Club”. You should watch it right now.

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a rude journey.

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