There's putting effort into a rap music video (renting expensive vehicles, flying out to Dubai, you know the drill) and there's this. Kids of the Apocalypse, the project of producer/musician Stefan Storm and animator Ernest Desumbila, is a hip-hop act that follows a fictional universe, which makes it something like Gorillaz meets Coheed and Cambria (seriously). That match-up also isn't a bad description of their song "Better Life," either, as choral vocals mesh with earnest rapping by California MC Wes Period. The visuals are the reason you're here, though, and they're incredible, following a group of vagrant kids battling forces of evil in a supermarket. Watch "Better Life" below and read on for our talk with Storm about what the narrative may mean and the inspirations behind KOTA's engrossing world.Noisey: What's this video's message? How related is it to political situations happening in the world right now like the forthcoming US election?
Stefan Storm: The world of Kids Of The Apocalypse and this video is set in an alternative universe, not exactly alike but not entirely dissimilar. It definitely mirrors the world in which we're living today and where it's headed. It takes place in a world where capitalism has run wild and a big corporation and its leaders are the all-powerful dictator. A generation of Kids, born into oppression form a secret alliance to take on the powers by spreading the word down in the darkest parts of the deep Web.What movies/shows/comics/etc. influenced this video? It has a very distinctive atmosphere and look.
The aesthetics of Kids of The Apocalypse and Better Life is a mixtape of visuals we love; Terminator, Strange Days, Akira, Gorillaz, Ralph Bakshi, the films of Amblin Entertainment.Who are the kids?
We don't know exactly, we found them in a lost supermarket. We don't know their names, we don't know where they are from, they have weird skills and powers, maybe they are survivors, or have been chosen to make a better world.What is the "Better Life" described in the song?
When the world is at its worst we must become our best. Don't let people scare you into thinking like they do.Phil is inspired. Follow him on Twitter.
Advertisement
Stefan Storm: The world of Kids Of The Apocalypse and this video is set in an alternative universe, not exactly alike but not entirely dissimilar. It definitely mirrors the world in which we're living today and where it's headed. It takes place in a world where capitalism has run wild and a big corporation and its leaders are the all-powerful dictator. A generation of Kids, born into oppression form a secret alliance to take on the powers by spreading the word down in the darkest parts of the deep Web.What movies/shows/comics/etc. influenced this video? It has a very distinctive atmosphere and look.
The aesthetics of Kids of The Apocalypse and Better Life is a mixtape of visuals we love; Terminator, Strange Days, Akira, Gorillaz, Ralph Bakshi, the films of Amblin Entertainment.Who are the kids?
We don't know exactly, we found them in a lost supermarket. We don't know their names, we don't know where they are from, they have weird skills and powers, maybe they are survivors, or have been chosen to make a better world.What is the "Better Life" described in the song?
When the world is at its worst we must become our best. Don't let people scare you into thinking like they do.Phil is inspired. Follow him on Twitter.