Synopsis
Isaiah Toothtaker delivers "Numb" in a stark, surreal setting shaped by shadowy imagery and an atmosphere of urban unease. The video keeps the rapper at its center, using performance footage and stylized, unsettling visuals rather than a conventional storyline. Its cold, dystopian presentation mirrors the track's detached mood, while the editing and production design give the clip an ominous, almost cinematic quality.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was released online on January 21, 2013, ahead of the planned March 1 release of Toothtaker's mixtape Illmatic 2.
- Steel Tipped Dove produced both the track and the video presentation. Contemporary coverage described the beat as a synth-heavy, Carpenter-esque soundscape with a dystopian feel.
- "Numb" appears as the tenth track on Illmatic 2, with a listed running time of 3:04.
- The clip belongs to the dark, experimental visual world surrounding Machina Muerte, the collective co-founded by Toothtaker.
- Toothtaker later explained that Illmatic 2 was not designed around a single narrative or concept. The title came from a suggestion in a Facebook comment, making "Numb" part of a deliberately loose and eclectic project rather than a tightly themed album.