Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 06/11/2012 at 5:06 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: grimes, kreayshawn, music videos, the internet

It’s hard to read about L$D’s “Don’t Smoke My Blunt Bitch,” the collaboration between musicians/Internet natives Grimes, Kreayshawn, Tragik and Blood Diamonds, without being very heavily reminded of another similar instant supergroup (of sorts): The Internet, an Odd Future side project, and their single/video “Cocaine.” At least it’s hard if you’re someone who spends a lot of time online watching this sort of video–which, conveniently would make you the exact target demographic for the clip.

So how do you tell these two California-based, Internet-savvy supergroup videos apart? Here’s a field guide.

PROVOCATIVE PEOPLE:
The Internet: Two members of Odd Future, including one (Syd tha Kid) who’s often singled out for being the group’s sole female member, for being an out lesbian in a group often accused of homophobia, or–less often–for being a vocalist/beatmaker among rappers. (Left Brain is just there.)
L$D: Grimes, a synthpop act and living Pinterest board who’s got arguably the year’s most love it/hate it album in Oblivion; Kreayshawn, a living Internet feud with an actual album now she’s pushing; Blood Diamonds, the sort of buzzy producer who gets work with Das Racist and Grimes again; Tragik, a California-based artist and producer who might be the mastermind behind this. They’re all friends.

PROVOCATIVE NAME:
The Internet: The very un-Googleable Internet, which doubles as the primary residence of everyone who’s heard this track.
L$D: A blatant drug reference with a dollar sign in the middle.

PROVOCATIVE DRUG REFERENCES:
The Internet: The song is called “Cocaine”!
L$D: Their name is basically LSD! Their song is called “Don’t Smoke My Blunt Bitch”!

OH, THERE’S A SONG:
The Internet: Perfectly pleasant chillwave-R&B with drifting chord changes and lilting vocals; the sort of track that, if you removed everything provocative above, could completely be passed off as something by, say, Air.
L$D: The kind of blurty, buzzing synthpop you’d make right after getting really obsessed with Le Tigre (a stage in every girl’s development, at least every girl on certain parts of Tumblr.)

AND ALSO A VIDEO:
The Internet: Syd tha Kyd meets a pretty, long-haired girl at the carnival, as is done in carnival lore. They hang out, make out, do drugs, the usual–then there’s the part where the girl overdoses and Syd dumps her body onto the street. You know, your standard anti-drug PSA with gender issues.
L$D: Grimes, Kreayshawn, Tragik and Blood Diamond hanging out amid a lot of graffiti, as is done in these Internet parts, then applying every video filter, particular the one that makes your footage split in two like a Magic Eye picture. You know, your standard YouTube upload.

INTANGIBLES:
The Internet: The attached album was called Purple Naked Ladies, yet like everything about Odd Future in 2012, nothing else about it was really provocative at all.
L$D: The group brags about recording the song in 10 minutes and the video in an hour, a statement designed to piss off everyone hearing it. At least one writeup contains the word “seapunkers.”

VERDICT: These are two different songs that come from the same place: colleagues hanging out, having fun, and making music as an aside. If you like or dislike one, you’ll likely feel the same about the other. And either way, you might want to step outside for a bit. It’s nice out.