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Written by Logan Woodard
Philadelphia-based rapper Matt Ox bestows upon us a music video for one of his newest tracks called “Distorted,” produced by BNYX. Tis’ a fitting title, describing not only the sincere nature of the song and video; but also it’s lyrical content and musical construction. With intense transitions, camera angles, and dark, unsettling color choice, Distorted is presenting Matt Ox’s current quest for concocting his next sound. At first glance, it’s really not surprising to see a flashy, extreme, and quick-transitioning rap video to accompany such a track; however, what sets the video apart from the massive influx of rap videos we see day by day is how it truly meshes with the actual sonics of the record. “Distorted” is insane to say the least. Play it anywhere that has exceptional low end or bass for it’s true maximum effect. Peep it in the link below.
If one pays keen attention, every effect, transition, edit, and moment correlates with the production and the Philly rapper’s bars. A few examples of this would be: the camera shaking as the 808 knocks, a spinning effect when the track reverses, a crescendo of visual vibrations when the 808 swells, and many, many more. At its core, Distorted locks you in, whether you like it or not. It would be serious understatement to say that the creative headroom the director was given is truly amplified here. It also wouldn’t be a surprise that Matt Ox himself sparked a lot of the ideas we’re seeing in this music video during its creative process.
Since his sensational hit “Overwhelming,” which amassed over 30 million views on Youtube, 16-year old Matt Ox has collaborated with some of Hip-hop’s finest. Though he only sports one official album released, we have tasteful features from Chief Keef, Key!, and Valee. He also is the voice behind the hook for “$$$” by XXXTentacion, which was released on X’s critically acclaimed “?” album. However, many had been wondering why Ox hadn’t released music in over 2 years since all this. In an interview with Complex and Seamus Fay, he explains: “It was about management and all that stuff getting switched up, so there were a lot of difficulties in that. I was also afraid to drop for a little bit. Not in the sense where I would care what people thought, but I was afraid of the label saying something, things like that.” Through all of the Philly rapper’s success, it would be a shame to forget who really helped push him to the limelight; aside from his own talent and drive of course. Enter: Working On Dying.
Working On Dying is a producer collective also hailing from Philadelphia that consists of now-platinum selling producers and talents such as F1lthy, OogieMane (who produced Ox’s first hit Overwhelming), Brandon Finessin’ (CEO of Working On Dying), Loosie Man, Jarek, and FaxOnly. At the onset of his first hit, this was really where we started to see the team known as Working On Dying start to formulate. Since then, aside from working with the young Philly legend, they’ve turned their collective into a legit business, worked with Lil’ Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Bladee, Quadie Diesal, and have begun to sculpt a new, infectious sound that almost no one can replicate. Even before Working On Dying, producers in the collective had their own buzz partnering up with underground artists such as Black Kray, Xavier Wulf, Chxpo, and others.
