Dubstep duo create opinion pandemonium with new video

Dubstep duo, RIOT, have made some serious waves in the world of social media over the past week. While their electro house track “Party 44” has received major praise for its musical composition, with it’s catchy riffs and club-banger status, it’s their music video for the single that really brought them into the limelight.

Supported by the likes of Knife Party, Steve Aoki and Infected Mushroom, amongst many others in the electro scene, the dubstep duo have received major praise . However the video hasn’t carried the breadth of support the music has. Whether provocation or satirical scenes were their aim, the video brought both – in big spoonfuls as well.

Essentially taking the piss out of everything notable about modern culture in recent years, the full animated clip is one heck of a ride; from Paris Hilton being poisoned by Deadmau5 to President Obama sniffing lines of cocaine, this one is not for the feint-hearted. With Borgore comically the main character, traveling from scene to scene, those into the electronic gossip scene and darker humour will undoubtedly have a fair few laughs.  Those who aren’t, will likely wince, or even object to it. Either way, as Kim Kardashian did with ‘that photo’, opinions will always be voiced and conflict.

The media fallout has been impressive to say the least, which is good news for a song of this caliber. However, the context may not be what RIOT was after.

Rather ironically (as SectionZ Records pointed out), “Party 44’s” video drew some of its harshest criticism from the site ifoundmolly.com. Tearing the video down through a negative lense, the site doesn’t hold back on their objections to the ‘poor taste’ of the animated scenes. However, the artist’s intent was soon put into words to calm the storm as it were, releasing this statement. And to be fair, after reading both of the items you can understand both perspectives. However in the modern society we live in today, where satire and intent are a very thin line, RIOT certainly took a risk with this one.

With that fallout seemingly not enough, the dubstep duo also called DJ JDATE regarding the video’s content

https://twitter.com/JENergizerr/status/626210451865473024

And just to top it off, alleged stealing of the animation characters also came up…

.@Shawn_barkly no one asked me permission, to be honest it pissed me off.

— Feed Me (@feedme) July 28, 2015

And with this all their comes a daily conundrum. At what point does creativity cross with unethical?

RIOT’s musical talents within their genre are undoubtedly extensive. And while their music video plots maybe be ‘tasteless’ in others opinions, their intent was seemingly comedic over malicious, with their post’s and apology’s evidence of that. While no one should ever endorse the subject included in the video, hypersensitivity to the topics can also have an equally damaging effect and dull creativity.

While a seemingly thinner line to walk on nowadays with social media creating a space and network for perspectives to clash, the dubstep duo will likely be taking this in their stride and on board. Learning from this is likely the best option for all parties, with RIOT probably viewing it as a maturing moment in their career. Which make’s their next material and video even more interesting!