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Watch: Religious Fanaticism Gets Even More Twisted in Pink Siifu’s ‘Devil’s Advocate’

Directed by Ludovic Gontrand, the underground rapper’s surreal new music video is inspired by evangelical preachers and Faustian bargains.

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The televangelist is a quintessentially American phenomenon. These often self-appointed messengers of God preach humility, hope, and forgiveness in feverish sermons to mega-church congregations and millions more on Twitch—the proverbial cash register cha-chinging relentlessly in the process. Eyes bugging, voices booming, the preacher stands halfway between a free-market entrepreneur and an entertainer, maintaining a hysterical grip over those searching for salvation wherever they can find it, even if it’s in a disused mall.

The culture around evangelist preachers is partly the inspiration behind Alabama-born, Los Angeles-based rapper Pink Siifu’s new music video for “Devil’s Advocate”, a stark, staggering hip-hop track co-written with his wife, SS. Sylvest. Made in collaboration with Paris-based director Ludovic Gontrand, the video smashes classic rap motifs together with delirious scenes from revivalist gatherings. Portrayed as the force behind the preacher, Gontrand describes Siifu’s performance as a “spiritual robbery;” a vivisection on power in America, where the lines between devotion and exploitation are blurred.

Read our interview with Gontrand about the video below, and watch “Devil’s Advocate” after the jump.

VICE: What was it about “Devil’s Advocate” that first grabbed you?Ludovic Gontrand: It was hard to sit still when I listened to it for the first time. It’s unstable and impossible to classify. It’s punk, hypnotic—haunted, almost. There is a lot to take in. You can’t be........

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