Watch RZA, Interpol’s Paul Banks in Energetic ‘Giant’ Video
RZA and Interpol‘s Paul Banks strut through the streets in slim-fitting, dark suits in the new video for “Giant.” The song will appear on the duo’s forthcoming collaborative album, Anything But Words, their first as Banks & Steelz.
“Giant” combines Banks’ love of post-punk with RZA‘s famed skeletal beats. Wendy Morgan directed the clip, which finds RZA the more energetic of the duo. He delivers lines with battering-ram vigor as he announces his plan to return rap to its New York City roots: “Hip-hop started on the East coast / Then it moved West, now down to ‘Bama/ I’ma bring it back to New York/ Roll those blunts and throw your hands up.” Banks mainly hangs in the background and picks up his guitar when the hook rolls around.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last month, Banks described the duo’s process in the studio. “RZA plays piano and guitar and is a great singer, and I think he has some musical interests that are more diverse than what you may traditionally know from him,” Banks explained. “I’m a huge fan of hip-hop as a genre and RZA’s work, and I feel like there’s just an overlap where it feels natural to me … So much of the songs are based around a RZA beat, because he’s in his element, and I think as a team of collaborators, we can explore, like, ‘RZA, why don’t you try singing or different sorts of instrumentation?'”
Anything But Words is set for release August 26.