Against a vast urban backdrop like the one we’re introduced to in the opening frames of Goodfella Uno’s new music video for “Peace,” the upstart rapper seems rather small, as any person would beside all of the enormous skyscrapers behind him. It isn’t until his vocal comes into focus that we start to realize the irony of the imagery; in Goodfella Uno, indie rap fans have a giant voice that can control the narrative of a song without needing a lot of contextualization from a music video or even instrumentation. He’s a true solo player, and the lack of features here emphasizes as much.
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The music video for “Peace” is a well-done piece, and I was particularly taken by the fact that it doesn’t overstate lyrical themes with its visual setup. I’ve personally grown tired of straightforward concepts in rap videos over the past few years, and this is an instance where Goodfella Uno is really trying to think outside of the box, and not in a specifically avant-garde fashion. That puts him ahead of his closest rivals in the underground today in my book, if not the majority of the mundane mainstream players in hip-hop trying to aimlessly sew experimentalism into their DNA/
From where I sit, the melodies in “Peace” make the song a surprisingly endearing performance from Goodfella Uno, but the real take-home in this single is its compositional brilliance. There are strong alternative influences in play here, and rather than trying to run from them, Goodfella Uno appears ready to embrace them and make something bold out of the aesthetic. I’m intrigued by what he might be able to forge out of this formula, and so long as he doesn’t deviate too much from this experimental look, I think his momentum is going to continue to grow.
Kim Muncie
