‘By the Christians, it is written that in the black Myrthian age… there existed an addiction to blood.’

clipping. are a three-piece experimental rap group. This soulful, haunting lyric is not theirs; it’s borrowed from Sam Waymon’s ‘The Blood of Thing (Part 2) Shadow of the Cross’, a song from the 1973 vampiric horror Ganja and Hess. In There Existed an Addiction to Blood, clipping. have replicated the essence of this film – they’ve created a cult classic that uses horror and vampirism to make powerful, imaginative statements about black oppression, assimilation and subjugation. But this album goes deeper than its spiritual predecessor: it pushes the boundaries of it’s medium and drags it’s borrowed concepts into the contemporary.

These tracks are for thoughtful ears and they’re certainly not easy listening

clipping.’s music is more cinematic than musical. It’s not like any tunes you’d put on around friends or a have a little lonely boogie to. These tracks are for thoughtful ears and they’re certainly not easy listening. It’s a style that’s rarely melodic and usually industrial, incorporating harsh, guttural noises that sometimes descend into white noise and chaos. Despite this, it’s a sound that’s carefully managed by two thirds of clipping. Jonathon Snipes has experience scoring horror films and William Hutson has a doctorate in experimental music. Put simply, they are masters of evoking feeling and setting tone. There Existed an Addiction to Blood is persistently unsettling, intriguing and sinister for reasons you can’t really articulate – and this is down to them.

If beat and song structure is the sparse skeleton of clipping.’s music, Daveed Diggs’ vocals are the lifeblood. He’s a tony-award winning actor (for his performance in Hamilton in 2016) and technically fantastic rapper who’s uniquely equipped to give clipping. a voice. His rapid-fire rhymes dance around even the most brutal sounds; his complicated cadence delivers intricate wordplay that steals the show (‘Time to fly, ’cause you know time fickle // So cold, finna snow, swing a icicle // Takin’ out a police or a politician issuing a statement sayin’ // Turn it on a dime or get the nickel’). Unlike most rappers, Daveed avoids the first person: he tells you what you see or feel, or what Clipping’s characters do. The lyrics in There Existed an Addiction to Blood are inspired by 90s horrorcore, a style of rap that’s typified by shocking, gory imagery (‘killer say you will know the limits of // Flesh stretched and eyes bled before they die // You said you had demons to exorcise’). Daveed relishes in these bloody rhymes.

Presented using language and sounds that conjure imagery of an apocalyptic, vampiric wasteland

To me, There Existed an Addiction to Blood is a monstrous mirror of American society. Presented using language and sounds that conjure imagery of an apocalyptic, vampiric wasteland, clipping. deliver cutting social commentary about racial violence. The album is punctuated with cryptic interludes – including a final, 18-minute track that’s just the audio of a piano burning.

‘Nothing is Safe’ describes a raid from the perspective of those on the inside. It’s a song for the hunted, about perpetual anxiety and how ‘death comes for everyone’. Daveed raps around the gentle, incessant tapping of piano keys, synthy riffs and sporadic bass.

‘He Dead’ (a reference to Kendrick’s ‘Rigamortis’) follows and focuses on one sole survivor running for his life. Ed Balloon’s warning vocals (‘They want to take your body // They want to hurt your body’) and Daveed’s description of a man targeted (‘When they screamin’ out murder, they lookin’ for you’) invoke images of racial profiling and police brutality.

The throbbing bass beats create an overwhelming, immersive listening experience

Later, in Blood of the Fang, clipping. reimagines vampiric bloodlust as a lust for the bloodshed of racist oppressors. Daveed invokes the names of Black Panthers and Malcom X and encourages the listener to ‘drink…up’ the blood and fight back too. The throbbing bass beats create an overwhelming, immersive listening experience.

Give There Existed an Addiction to Blood a listen, even if it doesn’t sound like your thing. clipping. are relentlessly pioneering and unique, so it’d be a shame not to indulge in their strange genius and epic rhymes.