RDGLDGRN’s “Opera” Music Video Is A Reflection Of The Times

RDGLDGRN’s (pronounced Red, Gold Green) music style doesn’t fit into one genre. They produce an amalgamation of rock, reggae, hip-hop, and go-go tunes. Yes, go-go. Likely best known for their song “I Love Lamp,” which features a drum appearance from Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, the DC-based band’s style has stayed pretty light-hearted. But now, they’re getting political.

“Got a problem with authority but the neighborhood cops love RDGLDGRN,” Green raps. Each band member represents one of the three colors that make up their name: Marcus Parham is Red, Pierre Desrosiers is Green, and Andrei Busuioceanu is Gold. “40 niggas nearly died last week so I count it as a win any day I breathe.” It’s a heavy song, that much is clear from the lyrics, which Green said he wrote over a year ago. “Most will feel a strong current political directive when listening, but when you concentrate it’s the classic man vs. society conflict of personal frustration, a realization of merit meeting powerlessness, individualism succumbing to conventionality and we built music around the words and a concept that felt classic,” he tells us.

But the visuals are also incredibly compelling. In the music video, Green is the focus, rapping while sitting on a stool wearing a lizard skin mask. Green talks about the meaning behind the visuals, stating:

Human beings in this country are still being treated as if they were aliens. There's a saying that we learned from protesters in Germany against the government and the country's treatment of the Syrian refugees, it is that ‘NO HUMAN CAN BE ILLEGAL.’ That idea inspired this video. The aggression of the music and accent mirrors the way you view the speaker all the way from the beginning of the track to when it’s finally deconstructed at the end. So, basically, there are LEVELS TO THIS SHIT.

Indeed there are, one of which includes a guest appearance from veteran rapper Method Man. You can watch the video in its entirety above.