Run The Jewels Release 360 Degree Virtual Reality Video for “Crown”

Run the Jewels released their second self-titled album back in October of 2014, but there's a saying about good things and waiting that proves itself true with regard to the duo's latest video. After releasing the visuals for "Love Again" last month, which features nothing but insects and plants, Killer Mike and El-P are back with the video for "Crown," a 360 degree virtual reality experience that allows the viewer to move within its framework.

Directed by Peter Martin, the video is a choose your own adventure-style story that enables the viewer to scroll past images of the two rappers up toward a storming sky or to different perspectives of the same event. Imagine a house of mirrors where an image is constantly reflected and distorted, but at the center, one can't stop spinning in an effort to take in the surrounding visuals. The result is a multiple music videos in one. If most music video art is presented on a screen, "Crown" is presented on four inward-facing screens.

As Killer Mike and El-P work on Run the Jewels 3, the question of where the two can take this collaboration seems to be answering itself. The production and lyricism were always there, but an avant-garde approach to video making has added another unexpected dimension to their upcoming and past releases. Here's El-P on the status of RTJ3, “Pleased to report #RTJ3 is halfway done,” he tweeted in March. “The goal of a 2016 release is achievable and a safer, more profitable global economy in our grasp. I would also like to report that Killer Mike and myself can apparently smoke almost a half pound of weed in 2 weeks, shocking even myself.”

Take a spin with the "Crown" video up top.