After the Smoke, made up of Robert Anthony Laing (aka Rob Coin) and Orville Anthony Cameron (aka Anthony X²) have been riding the come up for some time now. Those of us who have been following their ascent to cult-like status know we are no longer few in number. With over 50,000 followers on Tumblr and nearly the same on Twitter, early fans of this dark hip hop duo have smelled their success since before OIAM-gate brought them the type of spotlight they were long deserving of anyway. It’s hard to know when the talent of these two will level with the rest of the bullshit that’s constantly churned out by the very industry we want them to be recognized by. But until they crack it, why not get a few more people to see the light?
Their latest video “Come and Leave” flows with imagery as gruesomely magnetic as the beat it rides to. Although this video is essentially a derivative of Rob Coin‘s prior work–which likes to see women, drugs, and trippy effects as the focal point– it’s not a dead ringer. Here the macabre effect the visuals are given seem to underscore the seductive sadness of Anthony X²‘s production work. It’s an apt move considering the music is plain devastating.