"Airplane Mode" (Dude Reppin Knowhere song)

Dude Reppin Knowhere really turns the whole concept of going viral and self-promotional obsession and maintaining active social media engagement as a replacement for actual activity that helps one’s self-esteem on its head with “Airplane Mode.” The title of the song and the project name alone more than cleverly hint at the vibe he’s going for with the song where the vocals seem tuned down a little, maybe slowed down or with effect to give it that tonal warp. Every hip-hop artist and those adjacent is reppin’ some geographical zone like its really an identity for a lot of people and Dude Reppin Knowhere isn’t into that so much. The track is an anti-banger and yet is also oddly catchy so there is a healthy amount of subversive spirit to what this song that is part ambient and part the kind of playful production aim that is a part of what Aphex Twin does when he’s in a mood to take tropes and do something more creative with them. The music video shows a guy who looks like an EDM/rapper/influencer type frolicking in various locales except the music is what hype might sound like if it had already collapsed under its own hubris and had slid into the electronic music equivalent of broken machine mode. The video and the song might even be purely funny if it wasn’t also oddly inventive and offering a lateral thinking take on deconstructing popular culture and style. Watch the video for “Airplane Mode” on YouTube and follow Dude Reppin Knowhere at the links below.