Death Grips | I've Seen Footage
Death Grips | I’ve Seen Footage
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YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sticXkHxZC4
“I’ve Seen Footage” is a visceral track from Death Grips’ 2018 album Year of the Snitch, released amidst the band’s highly publicized feud with their former label. The song serves as a brutal indictment of surveillance culture, media desensitization, and the voyeuristic consumption of violence in the digital age.
Death Grips, the experimental hip-hop trio consisting of MC Ride (Stefan Burnett), Zach Hill, and Andy Morin, have consistently pushed boundaries with their aggressive sound and confrontational lyrics. This track exemplifies their ability to weave personal paranoia with societal critique, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that mirrors the constant monitoring of modern life.
Themes and Analysis
The song’s central concept revolves around the phrase “I stay noided” - a play on “noided” (paranoid) and “annoyed.” This linguistic twist captures the frustration and hyper-vigilance induced by living under constant surveillance. The lyrics describe footage of real-world atrocities: police shootings, pedestrian accidents, and urban violence, all consumed through screens that distance the viewer from the horror.
Key themes include:
Surveillance and Privacy Erosion: References to “satellite,” “surveillance post,” and “blindside static” paint a picture of inescapable monitoring, where personal space is violated by unseen observers.
Media Desensitization: The repeated exposure to violent imagery creates a paradoxical state of numbness and heightened alertness. The line “desensitized by the mass amounts of shit” acknowledges how overconsumption of disturbing content paradoxically makes us less sensitive.
Digital Paranoia: The song captures the anxiety of living in a world where “everybody’s knowin’” your movements, yet you’re powerless to identify or confront the watchers.
Violence as Spectacle: Graphic descriptions of a police shooting (“Rewind that, is so cold”) and a hit-and-run accident in Brazil transform real tragedies into consumable media, raising questions about who “captures life” and profits from documenting death.
The track’s structure builds tension through repetition and escalating intensity, mirroring the addictive quality of scrolling through disturbing content. The juke step references and “stimulation overload” suggest a frenetic, uncontrollable engagement with digital media that leaves the protagonist “noided” and unable to disconnect.
Lyrics
Source: SongMeanings
What’s that
Can’t tell
Hand held dream
Shot in hell
Deep space ghetto (streets)
Show me somethin’
I ain’t seen before
Mystery hind that
Death door
Juke step electrocute the floor
What’s the science on
Flyin’ that high
Got a no-no goin, one time
Creeps up behind me
Over my shoulder
Turn around try to see
But it’s nowhere
Noided, noided
Static on my blindside
I seen footage, I stay noided… I seen
Everybody’s knowin’
Where ya think you’re goin ain’t goin nowhere
Satellite, handle that
Wit a lead pipe
Who captures life
Who takes what’s left who stay
on that next, already know my gillicutti, like i told you…
don’t touch me
what’s up wit it
i stay noided, stimulation overload account for it
desensitized by the mass amounts of shit
I’ve seen it, I’ve been it
Can’t delete it feels like jail (noided) full moon in da klink shinin don’t sleep
Surveillance post my bail
I seen footage, I stay noided… I seen
Armored cop open fire Glock
On some kid who stepped so
Fast was hard ta grasp
What even happened til you seen dat head blow
Off his shoulders in slow mo
Rewind that, is so cold
Rewind that, is so cold
I seen footage.. I stay noided
Juke step wit so much boy rude looseness seem like
No bones in him skin
(Noided) my jaw hit da floor like this real for I gotta see that one mo gin
Ambulance hit and run over pedestrian in Brazil
Little tiger, boy soldier
Twist a cap back and kills (noided)
Seen crazy shit man crazy shit
I seen footage, I stay noided… I seen footage
Cultural Context
Released in 2018, “I’ve Seen Footage” arrived during a period of heightened awareness around police brutality, social media’s role in documenting injustice, and the psychological toll of constant connectivity. The song resonates with the Black Lives Matter movement and broader conversations about how technology amplifies both awareness and desensitization to systemic violence.
Death Grips’ own history with label disputes and public feuds mirrors the themes of betrayal and surveillance in the lyrics. The band’s decision to leak their own music and operate independently after leaving Epic Records in 2014 adds layers of irony to lines about being “noided” and watched.
Musical Style
The track features Death Grips’ signature blend of industrial hip-hop, with Zach Hill’s frenetic drumming creating a sense of urgency that matches the lyrical paranoia. MC Ride’s delivery is aggressive and fragmented, often cutting off mid-thought, reflecting the disjointed nature of digital consumption.
This song stands as a powerful commentary on the dark side of the information age, challenging listeners to confront their own complicity in a culture that commodifies suffering while promising connection.