It’s been several years since Oakland’s DJ Treat-U-Nice first dropped his infamous “Kill a hipster, save your hood” t-shirts. They seemed over the top to some, but hyperbolic and spot on to others. West Oakland native Chinaka Hodge was one such person with whom the slogan resonated. Though she recalls receiving strange looks as she would run in her neighborhood wearing the controversial shirt, it was a timely declaration in a rapidly gentrifying West Oakland. Fast forward to 2013, San Francisco emcee George Watsky enlisted Ms. Hodge to record a song named after the slogan on Treat’s t-shirts.

Much has been written on the rise of hipsterdom and its connection to culture vulterism and gentrification. In his 2007 piece Why The Hipster Must Die, Christian Lorentzen wrote, “Under the guise of “irony,” hipsterism fetishizes the authentic and regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity.” He would go on to describe hipsters’ presence in New York nightlife as “a pageant of the bohemian undead. These hipster zombies—now more likely to be brokers or lawyers than art-school dropouts—are the idols of the style pages, the darlings of viral marketers and the marks of predatory real-estate agents. And they must be buried for cool to be reborn.”

Lorentzen’s desire to eliminate the young and “cooler than thou” certainly aligned with Treat’s “Kill a hipster, save your hood” ethos, and added zombie imagery to drive home the culture vulture element.  Whether Lorentzen’s 6 year old article influenced director Jackson Adams’s vision for Watsky and Hodge’s “Kill a Hipster (Save Your Hood)” video, I don’t know, but he and his team executed that metaphor perfectly.

Watsky and Hodge met as youth poets in the Bay Area’s renowned spoken word scene many years ago. Watsky has since moved to LA to pursue rap full time, earning a huge following (millions of youtube hits), an appearance on Ellen, and a spot on last years’ Rock The Bells tour. Hodge, in the meantime, has continued to evolve into one of the most dynamic writers of her generation, excelling in her writing for the page, the screen, and the booth. Her rap chops are kept on hush, but are infamously wicked and wise.

On “Kill a Hipster” – Hodge’s first ever music video– Watsky begins by satirizing the hipster mentality by rapping as though he were a hipster blessed with unapologetic self awareness. Chinaka then responds with a pointed verse designed to fight back against the unwelcome advances and arrogance of hipsters. She begins:

Pencil to the neck, razor to your innertube
Bullet to your disrespect, I hate your hipster attitude
Your whole chassez,
Acting like you own us with your whole passé (posse)
Dance around the issue patna, no plié
But you’ll get broke for that French shit, so cassé

Her use of French vocabulary here is illustrating a point Watsky alluded to in his first verse when he over-pronounced “horchata” – a penchant for hipsters to use other cultures to bolster their own sense of intelligence, worldliness, and worth (We recommend checking out Rap Genius to explore their specific references).

It is at this juncture in the video when Chinaka and George are actually going on the physical offensive and murking hipster zombies with microphones, pencils, and whatever else they can get their hands on. That is until some indie rock zombie hipsters saunter into the video with instruments, commandeer the mic, and begin playing and singing an emo rock version of the hook. Despite the literal gentrification of the song, this interlude is actually really good. Some in the comments section of the video have gone so far as to wonder, “Am I a hipster if I like the hipster band part more?”

Luckily Chudwudi Hodge (Chinaka’s brother and George’s drummer) pulls up on a motor cycle dressed like Michael Jackson and armed to the teeth with lethal drum sticks. He wastes no time in putting zombies to rest. As the conflict escalates, George gets bit and starts becoming a zombie as he begins his final verse. His transformation sees him wrestling with the realization that he has become a hipster.

The video’s special effects are tremendous, and the lyrics are funny and insightful, but it really shines when it’s protagonist explores his own participation in the rise of gentrification. Watsky understands that as a white male who raps, is “cultured”, and relocated to Los Angeles, there are ways that his life intersects with his subject matter in an unavoidable way. While many are quick to get defensive about their hipster tendencies or participation in gentrification, Watsky is clearly not just calling others out. His ability to look in the mirror is modeling the way we should all unpack our privileges, a sentiment shared by Sarah Milstein in her recent article, 5 Ways White Feminists Can Address Their Own Racism.

Hopefully you can both enjoy the humor and execution of this video, AND – if the shoe fits – use it as a think piece for your own self-discovery.

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