RiFF RAFF Finally Breaks Silence On Global Warming
"Like, come on, you gonna stop a volcano? 'Oh, the volcano! Stop volcano, you're burning the forest!'"
As prelude to an interview with VICE, writer Drew Millard summed up the phenomenon of RiFF RAFF: “Everything he does is so crazy that it must either be part of a metacontextual Dadaist joke and he is a genius, or he is just profoundly dumb and has been blessed by the Rap Gods with infinite luck.”
It’s been a year since that was published, and it’s still hard to tell whether the artist — who rose to fame after a series of wacky viral videos, a couple of reality TV appearances, and a bunch of arguably terrible songs — thinks he’s legit, or is in on the joke. It was made all-the-more confusing by his decision to sue Harmony Korine earlier this year, for James Franco’s infamous portrayal of Alien in Spring Breakers: for a man who’d made a career out of becoming a meme, why did he even care?
Pitchfork sat down with RiFF RAFF for their brilliant ‘Over/Under’ series, in which they present a series of words and ideas, and film an artist’s reaction to them. The spot has been responsible for some excellent episodes — Neko Case, Das Racist, Best Coast & Wavves — but this one, released this morning, has to be the best.
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What does RiFF RAFF think of freestyling? Underrated.
“It’s not freestyles, it’s fee styles now.” BOOM.
What does RiFF RAFF think of Mortal Kombat? Underrated.
“I quit school in elementary because of recess. Too many games.”
What does RiFF RAFF think of voodoo? Underrated.
“You’re tryna put a curse on someone for some bad shit, and then as soon as something bad happens then they’re going to think, ‘Oh it’s just the voodoo’ — but then, it’s just the world. So it’s bullshit.”
What does RiFF RAFF think of global warming? It’s really hard to say… Something about dentists?
“I don’t give a fuck about that shit. Were they worried about that 200 years ago, when there was fucking people killing each other with fucking stones and shit? There’s earthquakes and shit, what are you gonna do tell an earthquake not to…? It’s fucking retarded.
People are like, ‘Oh, don’t use hairspray, ‘cos dadadada….’ Like, come on, you gonna stop a volcano? ‘Oh, the volcano! Stop volcano, you’re burning the forest!’
Like, it’s just fucking the world. The world isn’t made to be fucking comfortable in it. Why you think — like, a couple hundred years ago, like there was no AC and all this shit, people dying at the age of 30 ‘cos there was no such thing as dentists and shit like that. This world isn’t set up for comfort. People created that level, and I want as much comfort as possible.
What does RiFF RAFF think of beauty pageants? He doesn’t know.
[Whispers gravely] “Beauty pageants. [Pause] I don’t know. [Long pause] I don’t know about beauty pageants. [Extremely long, introspective pause]”