The hypothesis: There is a stylist contrast between the music of Digibro and Endless Jess that can most clearly be seen in the ‘rotten’ music video.
If I were to describe the rap style of Endless Jess in one word it would be ‘storytelling’; Rarely do we hear an Endless Jess rap that doesn’t try to construct some narrative or take the listener on a journey – Butt chugger being the most obvious example; a track that is far more enjoyable for the story elements and the narrative over the actually wordplay. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that Jess isn’t a competent lyricist, it’s just that often his raps are formed around a narrative backbone that he then uses to show off his skills and express his ideas.
It is true that, in some places, the narrative elements of Jess’ style aren’t always center stage – like in Lunatic and Peestyle – but there’s always a level of artifice covering the more honest and personal sides of his work… a tongue-in-cheek quality that says to me, his main focus is always “how can I turn this into a show”.
Digibro, on the other hand, walks a much different path. His raps are often abrasive, opinionated and directly subjective – emulating that ‘psychic brain blast’ style he’s always talking about. Tracks like All of a sudden, Drake fucking sucks and bedroom bedrock could easily have been after-dark vlogs and would have lost very little in terms of how the message is delivered. Obviously, Digi could create narrative if he wanted to – and has done before – but, it’s plain to see that his general style is far more autobiographical.
Since the Rotten music video features both artists, the difference in their styles is on full display. Digibro, as always, is abrasive and in your face, which manifests in a butt-load of close up shots which literally put him in your face, as well as, the way he’s assaulting the camera like a fucking asshole trying to give us motion sickness. Jesse isn’t direct with his visuals and doesn’t completely fill the screen, (letting the viewer properly watch what he’s doing in a way that’s clear and understandable, while also allowing the background to add to the narrative of a basement dwelling wierdo). There’s a very candid feel to Jess’ footage that comes from him being away from the camera for most of it and giving us the bare minimum of direct address – which, even when it happens is presented less like he’s looking at us and more like we’re seeing a zoo animal jump at the glass. Jesse presents himself as a character in a story for us to observe and not like a guy who’s got a message to feed us – even though he almost always does.
[You know, I might be wrong about everything I just wrote but I’m gonna act like I’m right so you should too!]