hxlt has no time for the haters on his new single “ace”

“I got a million people telling me to be like this
Got my own damn style, I don’t need your shit”

HXLT’s music has always defied easy categorization. Born of the shaky alliance between punk and hip-hop, it inhabits both worlds and neither at the same time. With his latest single, “ACE,” HXLT comes out swinging against those who insist he push his sound in one direction or another. It’s a proudly defiant cut that celebrates making art on your own terms—the critics be damned.

The video, shot largely in one unbroken take, is as clever as the music. It’s deceptively simple, hiding an impressively elaborate choreography. You may find yourself watching it a few times just to figure out how all the pieces fit together. But then, that’s the magic of HXLT, is that it doesn’t matter how the pieces fit together. It just matters that they do.