Video: The Outfit, TX – “Free Yourself”
Dallas Hip-Hop Trio The Outfit, TX Releases Video From Cognac Disc of Double-Album, Premiered by The Smoking Section
02.26.2014
Critical Praise for The Outfit, TX:
“…the best thing in rap today that nobody is talking about yet.” – MTV Hive
“…positively perfect.” – Complex
“The Outfit, TX is one of the best rap groups in Texas.” – PassionWeiss
The Video:
The Outfit, TX, whom Complex has called “positively perfect,” release another hazy visual, premiered by The Smoking Section, from their recently released double album, Cognac/Four Corner Room. In the beginning of “Free Yourself” you hear a high-pitched violin foreshadowing impending doom as a woman is seen locking up her parked car and entering her apartment by herself using the moonlight to guide her path. Spacey drums that sound like a heartbeat start to creep in. But then Mel’s calm, soothing ghost-like voice assures, “There’s a lot of stress you’re carrying on your chest, baby girl” as the woman exhaustedly plops down at the dining table and breaks out a textbook and highlighter, working towards a better future. Throughout the video, Mel raps reassuring and supportive words to the unwitting woman, but in the form of an astronaut. Described by Mel as “every playa’s playa,” the astronaut has made cameos in many of The Outfit, TX’s previous music vides, representing the everyday man. In this instance, he’s the man in her mind and heart, the woman she’s not physically with, yet cannot disregard.
Woman like her are everywhere: women who are working towards a goal: determined, but alone. Haunted by thoughts of some man somewhere, they persevere, taking care of business and succeeding the best way they know how. Explains Mel, “Eventually, they need someone to come massage that stress away until that lucky ghost returns home (if ever), and who better than a good friend.”
The Dallas-based triumvirate explores an underlying theme that remains present throughout the entirety of Cognac. Similar to their “Drunk Driving” video, “Free Yourself” identifies the frailty of life as a common thought. Mel states, “Even when seemingly absent, lyrically, it remains as an inadvertent motivating force behind the possible emotion, thought process, or decision being explored.”
Meeting at the University of Houston in 1996 and having an enormous passion for hip-hop, born-and-raised Texans Dorian, JayHawk, and Mel established The Outfit, TX. The rap group contains two producers and three emcees who are all originally from Dallas. They have been called “the best thing in rap today that nobody is talking about (yet)” by MTV Hive, while their recently released Cognac/Four Corner Room double-album was named by Complex as one of the Top Ten Texas Rap Mixtapes of 2013.
Watch the “Free Yourself” Video here: http://youtu.be/zDUUmTR_yzE
Check out The Smoking Section premiere: http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2014/02/the-outfit-tx-free-yourself-video
Download Cognac/Four Corner Room here: http://coolyfooly.com/album/cognac-four-corner-room
The Outfit, TX will be performing at SXSW 2014. Dates coming soon.
Tracklisting for Cognac by Mel:
- Bitter (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Purple Diamond Tea (Prod. by Mel of The Outfit, TX)
- isyagonshakeit? (Prod. by Mel of The Outfit, TX)
- Business Man (Prod. by Mel of The Outfit, TX)
- Munky Muzik (Prod. by Mel of The Outfit, TX)
- Sweet (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Drunk Driving (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Drunk Sex (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Right Brain Tipsy (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Feeling (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Ride On (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Free Yourself (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Dirty South Rydan (Prod. by Mel of The Outfit, TX)
- Voyage to Atlanta (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
Tracklisting for Four Corner Room by Dorian:
- Hourglass (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Amazing ft. Mel (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Lonely Soul (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- WAKE UP (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- The Pursuit ft. King Me? (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- M.A.R.S (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Girl Blue (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Odyssey of The Mind (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Straight No Chaser ft. Jay Hawk (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- The Feel (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Ride On (Prod. by The Outfit, TX)
- Everyone’s For Sale ft. King Me? (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- Appealing (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
- The Rise (Prod. by Dorian of The Outfit, TX)
Please contact Michelle or Rory if interested in talking with The Outfit, TX.
The Outfit, TX Background:
Born and raised in Dallas, producers and rappers Dorian, JayHawk, and Mel make up the hip-hop band The Outfit, TX. After forming while in school at University of Houston in 2006, they returned to Dallas to continue to work on their patented brand of “Cooly Fooly Space Age Funk.” Individually, each has their own respective sound and together, they expertly blend their unabashed Southern credo of smooth synth bass, moogs, 808s and synthesizers. Their first official studio album, Starships and Rockets: Cooly Fooly Space Age Funk The Album is a perfect exhibition of that sound. Voted one of the “Best Underground Rap Tapes of 2012” by Houston Press Magazine, the album made waves among top tier press outlets and set the stage for their current project, their double-disk album Cognac/Four Corner Room, which exists as two solo projects, conjoined at the hip to represent the juxtaposed unity of of TOTX. Complex ranks it as one of the Top Ten Texas Rap Mixtapes of 2013.
TOTX has performed with the likes of J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, The Clipse, and Kendrick Lamar. They headlined their first sold out show at Warehouse Live in Houston, TX in March 2013, then hit the road, performing at several music festivals including A3C’s “Best in Texas” Showcase, and Spune’s Index Fest in Dallas, TX. The future holds much more for the three Southern gentlemen that comprise The Outfit,TX, who recently relocated back to Dallas from Houston. They might have put it best, describing their artistry as “one small step for Texas, one giant leap for Southern kind.”
Links:
official site | twitter | facebook | youtube | soundcloud
“Free Yourself”: http://youtu.be/zDUUmTR_yzE
“Drunk Driving”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OoSjpk9chQ
Bio, pictures and streams available here: http://www.audibletreats.com/the_outfit_tx/