Max Bell doesn’t get paid to thank
It’s 2015, no one wants your “real hip-hop.” Authenticity is important, but believability trumps purchased biography. Uncompromising fiction bests hackneyed realism. Enter The Kleenrz.
For those who don’t comb the PassionWeiss archives, The Kleenrz is comprised of Self Jupiter and Kenny Segal. The former cut his teeth ripping open mic’s at the Good Life and rapping with L.A.’s Freestyle Fellowship, the four-headed hydra that created more cadences in one album than there were major label rappers who butchered the ‘Migos flow.’ The latter has been down since Project Blowed, producing forward-thinking suites for Fellowship, Open Mike Eagle, and scads of other L.A. indie rappers–all while becoming an integral member of the beat scene. They could yell “real hip-hop” without censure, but they don’t. They’re better than that.
Instead, they’ve re-imagined themselves as crime-scene cleanup men for those with the funds to excise their enemies; the Samuel L. allusions are twofold. For the duo’s mission statement, see their self-titled 2012 Hellfyre Club debut (posted below). Today, they’ve released a video for their 2013 single, “Big Business.”
“Big Business” originally appeared as a bonus track on Hellfyre Club’s Dorner vs. Tookie compilation. The track marks their promotion from grim janitors to gleeful executioners. Segal tempers complex percussion with ominous strings and plinking keys; Self Jupiter giggles while leaving bodies strewn in Biscayne Bay. Business as usual. Together, they spend the video walking through a warehouse with henchmen in tow. The bloodied body in back is expected; the triggerman isn’t. They’re better than that.
