Photo by David Salafia
Nate Mardsen has always been larger than life. As the bassist of Bearstronaut, the band named Electronic Act of the Year in this past weekend’s Boston Music Awards and the inspiration for Vanya Records back in 2011, Mardsen has always held a strong hand. From dice games in the back of a renovated prison bus en route to SXSW to holding it down in green rooms in Boston and beyond, he’s the dude you want to be around.
On the new video from Moe Pope & Rain — themselves named Hip-Hop Act of the Year in the 2013 BMAs, their second win in as many years — Mardsen takes to the animated streets of Allston, to the Orange Line, to the Boston Public Library, to wherever he wants, all while mouthing the lyrics to “Lift Off.” The track is the latest off the post-rap crew’s breakout LP, January’s Let The Right Ones In.
Directed and illustrated by Matthew Watkins, the video is Marsden how we’ve always seen him: Straight baller. Having Pope’s effortless flow and the genre-defying beats from Rain soundtrack his swag puts it all together nicely, and the Boston backdrop is filling us with hometown pride.
Meanwhile, Moe Pope & Rain also just dropped a new unreleased track, “What You Need Part 2,” which features Brooklyn’s Tea Leigh. Check it out via Soundcloud.
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