Juiceboxxx’s “In The Basement” video is full of punk rock ambivalence

One of life's unfortunate truths is that following your heart doesn't guarantee happiness. There are too many outside pressures and variables to ensure that, however courageous such a path may be, it's unlikely that you'll always be sure that all your decisions were the right ones. Juiceboxxx's music career — defined by rap albums and punk projects — has taken him up and down the United States, including a show at the 2018 FADER Fort at SXSW, but his unmatched passion has yet to translate to similar levels of success.

Juiceboxxx often reckons with this disparity in his music, and his new song "In The Basement" displays the joys and uncertainties of a literally underground life. The music video, premiering today on The FADER, dolls up Juiceboxxx in a number of perfect punk styles (courtesy of Soren Roi) as he wonders aloud if a life can be "wasted" if it's spent somewhere you feel truly alive.

"Straight up," Juiceboxxx said in an email, "this song is about all of the intense baggage that comes along with a life moving around on the edges of various 'underground music' communities. It might seem absurd if you've never been deep in it, but it really is a lot to process. All of the years spent rolling around on the ground inside of some dive bar or warehouse, playing to couple kids, trying to make it happen in the room."