mykki blanco returns to ‘play’ in new video by j-e-t-s

It had been a minute since we last heard from the unfuckwithable poet, rapper and performance artist Mykki Blanco, when, earlier this week, their Twitter feed began to percolate with the color of royalty and a stream of hints that Betty Rubble might be dropping something soon. Cue Friday’s debut of “Play,” new music featuring Blanco smacking around some boom-bap made by J-E-T-S (the pairing of techno producers Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum, abandoning their usual 4/4 utz-utz-utz), and a Robert Fox-directed video that shows off Mykki’s dramaturgical chops.

The video scene takes place in and around a mall photo-booth, and features Blanco as a trio of characters: a blonde professional in a skirt-suit (with child in tow), a punky food-court worker and the mall security guard. The booth plays the part of both escape hatch and confessional, as Blanco spit one rapid-fire free verse, and another heavy on emotion. “You call it hustling/I call it love/You call it struggling/I call it love,” they intones, as the bass widens while the siren screams. And if Mykki’s Twitter feed is to be trusted, “Play” is only the first of Blanco’s boom-shots for 2019.