Out genderqueer rapper Uncle Meg is back with an all-new music video, and it’s a party you’ll wish you’d been invited to, with a song you’re guaranteed to be feeling.
“I love the idea of this concept ‘self-pitying comedy raps,’ a concept that I return to quite a lot in my writing,” Uncle Meg says of the track, “Big Daddy Margaret Rose.” “Making light and humor out of dark thoughts, kind of making fun of myself, which a lot of rappers do as well. I wrote this song when I first started quitting smoking this winter and I had a lot of extra energy and feelings going on inside. I mean like a lot of hyperactivity and my brain running a million miles a minute. I reference acting out at work and feeling deprived a lot, but in a light/funny way. Writing this song was a way for me to get all of that extra energy out, it was just something I had to do.”
As for the video, Uncle Meg says director Eric Rivas invited her on the set of his film Vampire Bikers Tres, where she met “a lot of different characters from different backgrounds: Coney Island Side Show freaks, bikers, and just many New York City local actors.”
“It was so inspiring to me to see so many different people from so many different backgrounds working together and even more than that, having so many different people relate and love this song,” Uncle Meg said. “So I wanted to get everyone back together again in the same room for this song. The song is written from a perspective of feeling alone and kind of sorry for yourself, but actually seeing everyone together, loving and relating to the song shows that- oh wow, everyone actually has these thoughts and we all aren’t that different.”
The video for “Big Daddy Margaret Rose,” which features cameos from New York counter-cultural icons like Lillo Brancado and Angel Salazar as well as Uncle Meg’s model/muse partner Clara Rae, was shot at Forbidden One’s Clubhouse, a motorcycle club that has been around the Williamsburg/Bushwick area “since before the gentrification of North Brooklyn began.”
“Originally, I would never even have expected the bikers, who are long-time Bushwick natives to even fuck with me or my music, as I have only been a Bushwick resident for five or six years, technically gentrifying the neighborhood. But after hearing the song, the club welcomed me with open arms, inside the skit and outside of the skit,” Uncle Meg said. “Same with the Coney Island trained resident Freak Show homies. Amanda and Dennis even went out of their way to help me by transporting the actual bed of nails from the Freak Show, the Coney Island Laser Show equipment, and the straight jacket. It’s such a great community of people that Eric has created, and I’ve made a lot of great friends in the process.”
Check out the super fun video below and watch Uncle Meg get initiated into the club. We’ll just have to live vicariously through her.
New Yorkers: Uncle Meg is premiering the new video live tonight in Williamsburg at Videology and will be playing at Gold Sounds on April 27. Follow Uncle Meg on SoundCloud, Facebook, or Twitter for more info, music, and future show dates.
