Davey Havoc, of AFI and wishing he were Glen Danzig fame, once said in an interview that he doesn’t like to discuss what his lyrics mean because it traps the listener in his interpretation of the song and prevents them from seeing a potentially deeper meaning. Davey gave the interview shortly after releasing Black Sails in the Sunset, an album full of vague lyrics about darkness and cryptic song titles in Latin, so his comment was meant more to cover his ass than to explain any kind of personal philosophy. He did touch on an interesting point: how additional media, provided by the band or its management, often deprives the listener of the ability to experience the music on a more personal basis. The overwhelming availability of music criticism, interviews, and music videos leave little mystery to what a song means or what the artist was going through when he or she wrote it. Music videos are especially destructive in this sense, often offering a fully packaged and easily accessible idea of who an artist is and how a song should be interpreted. They have the potential to replace the mental images a song can conjure up with the over-produced sights of a high budget commercial or an artist’s shameless sales pitch. That being said, I think I may like a good music video more than the next person and the video for Prodigy’s “Mac 10 Handle” is about as good a music video for that song as I could have hoped for.

Prodigy is nothing if not gritty and a bit scary. If I’m not mistaken, he’s already in jail for gun possession and has said, very publicly, that if the prosecutor knew about all of the crimes he’s committed and gotten away with, they would have locked him up for far longer. Prodigy never gives a wink to his listeners, not in his music or in his interviews, to indicate that he’s not entirely serious. It makes me a bit uncomfortable because I can’t create a disconnect between what he’s saying and what he actually believes, or in turn, what I’m listening to and what I’m actually supporting. It’s unfortunate because, like I said, I really like this video.

Prodigy’s room is in complete disarray and it’s clear that it only serves as a place to get “high on drugs” and watch TV while planning to kill someone. The lighting gives the scene a warm, but uncomfortable glow. Prodigy seems out of control when pointing his giant knife at the camera, playing with a gun, and chugging liquor – a trifecta that would make any visitor want to leave. But the video really sells me at the end when Prodigy appears haunted by his crime, not out of regret, but more because he’s completely fucking crazy and, you know, now there are even more voices and images running around in his head.

I don’t think “Mac 10 Handle” is as strong of a song by itself. That’s not to say that it’s not good, I just don’t think it effectively creates tension and discomfort in the listener to the extent the video does. The understated beat and disturbing lyrics help, but Prodigy is trying to come across as a loose cannon and that sales pitch has been given so many times by so many rappers, it would take an incredibly remarkable song to do it on its own. Personally, I needed some mirror stabbing to really be sold.