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Premiere: Hip-Hop Artists EKLV and Sidday Confront Blue Pill-Red Pill Conundrum in ‘Benson’ Video

The New Delhi rappers and longtime friends have released their first single, with the visual including a cameo from Ska Vengers founder Stefan Kaye

Oct 15, 2021

Sidday and EKLV in a still from the music video for 'Benson'

Model and musician Eklavya Singh aka EKLV used to be in a metal band called Ground of Delusion, while Siddhant Shah aka Sidday has been a filmmaker and visual artist for long, with his production house Galat Scenes churning out music videos. Their debut single “Benson” comes as a turning point and testament to what instilling confidence in one’s life can do.

For EKLV, this is his first excursion as a rapper and singer with a studio release, with the same going for Sidday. The latter says he was immensely helped by EKLV, his longtime friend, plus fellow director Aditya Guha, who worked on the mind-bending music video for “Benson.” Sidday says about being on the other side of the camera lens, “It has all come full circle as I found like-minded people like Eklavya and Aditya who literally had to pull me aside and let me know, ‘You’re great at what you do. This music must leave outside this bedroom. Do it!’”

Incidentally, the wavy hip-hop song featuring beats by Pluto was created spontaneously while Sidday and EKLV were at their Hauz Khas Village room. “We played this beat that spoke to us. The words came out of Eklavya’s mouth and it became the hook. I liked it so much and resonated with it that we didn’t re-record it,” Sidday says.

The music video for “Benson” sees the two friends finally call it quits with their day jobs and come across a “Caucasian Morpheus from the Matrix” – essayed by Ska Vengers and The Jass B’stards’ Stefan Kaye (who also rented out his house for scenes from the video). At his creepiest best, he offers EKLV and Sidday a choice between a blue pill and a red pill. They refuse at first but the scene soon turns into scrambled. “The pills are a sweet metaphor for one’s decisions in life and the pill they take embodies confidence,” a statement by the artists mentions.

The rappers are followed with swerving and claustrophobic intensity, plus kaleidoscopic camera angles to match as they live their best life, leading with confidence. Sidday says, “We always relied on others to give us confidence and lacked self-belief but after taking the pills of confidence we start living our lives and feel happier. Though the external confidence that comes with a situation and fades away eventually can have detrimental effects in the long run.”

Watch the video for “Benson” below. Stream the song here.

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