AFTR - Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down)”
AFTR CELEBRATES & EMPOWERS WOMEN ON 'HUMBOLDT SWAGGER (WANNA GO DOWN)'
Chicago’s south side techno artist and producer AFTR (Alone for the Ride), aka Jose Goo, introduces the music video “Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down),” featuring Chicago house artist Pepper Gomez, whose double entendre lyrics channel the significance of Plato’s aphorism, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Voluptuous Vixens
“Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down)” is from AFTR’s forthcoming EP, May, slated for release June 29 via Wake Up! Music. Mixed by Ralphi Rosario, Craig Snider, and Matt Warren, “Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down)” pulsates with infectious house dynamism and features the Wake Up! Music Models known as the Voluptuous Vixens.
Speaking to the song, Jose Goo-AFTR shares, “I wanted to show some love to my city and all the beautiful people in it – so while living in Humboldt Park, I wrote this song, “Humboldt Swagger.”
The cutting-edge video for “Humboldt Swagger” embodies the creative directorial vision of ACRONYM, whose concept blends the potent surge of techno-house music with the visual impact of beauty enveloped in women of all shapes and sizes. The message of the video is crystal clear: in today’s world, most women compare themselves with the supermodel on the front of Vogue magazine or Vanity Fair, a cultural fabrication imposed by the fashion industry, the media, and outside constraints. It’s a self-destructive illusion.
“Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down)” has it all: a driving rhythm, sonic pressure, and muscular surfaces, along with the remarkable charms of gorgeous women.
A one size fits all standard of beauty culminates in most women feeling unhappy or ashamed of some aspect of their bodies. Pepper Gomez says, “Don’t wait even one more day to love every bit of yourself.”
The truth of true beauty is more nuanced, witnessed by the fact most human beings respond to beauty viscerally – a gut reaction. True beauty punches you right in the primeval areas of the limbic system, which means beauty, on one level, is immune to rational thought process – it’s simply a response to images and the energetic urgency of physical attributes. True beauty is, literally, “breathtaking.”
ACRONYM explains, “When presented with the opportunity to film a music video on body equality and self-love no matter the size, I was elated. Also, for clarification, I had to step in as a dancer last minute, which was scary for me, starring and creating, but having these amazing women by my side, I felt like I could do anything.”
“Humboldt Swagger” opens on a trance-like house beat flowing into a psychedelic-flavored techno-infused melody chock-full of flooding edgy textures, as Pepper Gomez’s sultry tones under exquisite lilting control imbue the lyrics with tantalizing allure demanding you get up a move to the rhythm.
“Humboldt Swagger (Wanna Go Down)” has it all: a driving rhythm, sonic pressure, and muscular surfaces, along with the remarkable charms of gorgeous women.
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