Mr. Killums - El-P’s drug, sex, and violence addicted squirrel puppet - has a very storied music video history. We’ve been fans of Killums since he appeared in two of our favorite videos from last year, El-P’s "The Full Retard" and "Stay Down," so we were super excited when we saw him pop up in "36” Chain" by Run The Jewels (Killer Mike and El-P’s hip-hop duo). Just like the first two videos, "36” Chain" is directed by Timothy Saccenti, and features kidnapping, violence, and more than a few laughs because just like the Run The Jewels album, the violence in this video is so over the top that is stops being disturbing and starts being hilarious. We talked to Timothy about the video, bringing back Mr. Killums, and paying homage to "I’m Bad" by LL Cool J.

Doug: At what point did you guys decided to feature Mr. Killums in this video?

Timothy: El, Mike, and Killums went on tour together and there was some kind of magical bond there... things happen on tour...  so he was included in even the very early concepts of the video.

Doug: El-P and Killer Mike really seem to be on the same level artistically. Is there much difference between working with El-P as a solo artist vs. working with Run The Jewels?

Timothy: For myself no, not really. El-P is akin to a creative director on all his projects to a degree, he has tons of input into all the aspects of the stories we try to tell together. This was similar to our previous projects in that El, being the story teller, had a great concept that he and Mike had talked about and I came in to translate it visually and flesh it out. There's a lot of back and forth on these creatively. Performance wise it was quite different in that the play between Mike and El is quite magical, they are amazing to watch performing together, very intense... so that ended up being more of a drive to the video itself.

Doug: You and El-P wrote the video together, was Mike on board with everything you guys asked of him? Including beating an old woman to death? That kind of over the top violence seems to be an overall theme of the Run The Jewels album.

Timothy: When getting into elements that are possibly contentious such as a satirical take on violence we must always keep communication open. Each element was discussed and worked through to try and strike the right balance of, if I can quote Brian Eno, going "To an extreme place then retreating to a more useful position." What I try to bring to music videos is to visually echo the visceral quality of the music, so for this piece I feel the destructiveness works at that level.

Doug: Both Charles Bronson in Deathwish and LL Cool J in "I'm Bad" are mentioned in the YouTube description as influences on this video. How did those pieces work into this video, and were there any other major influences on the project?

Timothy: The homage to “I'm Bad” was the main impetus for the video, in a very respectful manner. This is in no way a parody. That time period for hip hop was very rich and we all have a huge amount of respect for LL. Aside from those influences I have a love of the psychedelic horror film “Hasu” and tried to incorporate colors and energy similar to that, as well as over-the-top violence.

Doug: The video beings with a VHS look and then switches to a more modern look once the song starts. What was behind the idea of mixing sources?

Timothy: The opening scenes are shot with VHS in 4:3 as a homage to the LL video, but the production on the track is so modern I wanted to flip it into the 16:9, digital world once the beat kicked in.

Doug: How did the cameos all come about? Did most of those people, like Andrew W.K., Amber Tamblyn, and Heems, just come out as favors?

Timothy: I supposed there is a large community of people who secretly want to be strangled, shot, or stabbed in the neck by EL-P and Killer Mike.

Doug Klinger is the co-founder/content director of IMVDb and watches more music videos than anyone on earth. You can find him on twitter at @doug_klinger.